


Bare Knuckled

by JaceRMontague



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-16 17:05:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 30,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4633248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaceRMontague/pseuds/JaceRMontague
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young Emma Swan escaped the system and makes her living through the underground fight rings in New York City. She has spent six <br/>years avoiding the system, training under the illusive Hook, living in the basement of the notorious, abusive alcoholic Smee and making plenty of people much, much richer.</p><p>One night Emma ends up beaten and battered on the streets, left for dead. </p><p>However, a teenager trailing the streets of New York finds Emma and tries to save her.</p><p>-Multi chapter</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Deal

The world blurred around Emma as she wiped the blood from her most likely broken nose and her most definitely spilt lip, she spat onto the concrete beneath her feet, splattering the ground with her blood from where the blow to her mouth caused her to bite both her tongue and the inside of her cheek simultaneously. As she looked at the ground she couldn’t tell which blood was hers and which  belonged to the person on the floor. The blood-stained teenager winced in pain when her right arm was lifted victoriously, the pain that heated her arm didn’t matter – she had won.

She could hear the many spectators around her cheering, the ones who she had made particularly rich that night cheered the loudest thanking the youngster for earning them money while praising themselves for betting on the scrawny girl who had a fierce reputation within the Boston underground instead of the bulky man who was at least both ten years older and ten stone heavier than the girl who had just forced him into a double knock surrender. She could also hear the spectators who had lost their money by betting on her opponent grumbling, complaining and getting increasingly angry. ‘But hey’ she began to herself ‘there’s nothing I can do about that’ she thought smugly.

Her arm was dropped and she was led out of the makeshift ring, she was bought to the medical office where her knuckles were cleaned and bandaged, nose, jaw and lips were treated and the burning in her arm was diagnosed as a torn bicep, the scrappy teenager was advised not to fight again until her arm was healed but that wasn’t going to stop her – how else would she afford to hide out and not be dragged back into the system she had spent ten years escaping and six years hiding from?

“My God Swan, I gotta give it to ya; ya whooped his arse back there” Emma’s trainer Killian hollered behind her as she walked to the ice bath in the store room to help relieve the ache of her muscles.  
“Have you got anything to say that I don’t already know?” the girl quipped

-

By 2am Emma was lying on the makeshift bed that was composed of a mattress on top of a dozen beer crates in the basement of Killian’s so-called friend Smee’s bar. She could hear the two men talking upstairs, she could hear Killian talking about the blow she took to the head and the likely hood of her winning her next fight.

There was a fight the next day that she knew she wouldn’t win because of the damage to her bicep when that fucker she’d fought that evening had twisted her arm at the shoulder. She also knew she couldn’t afford not to fight. If she didn’t fight she wouldn’t be able to pay Smee his five-hundred dollar monthly fee for giving her a bed, a roof to sleep under, food and new clothes when the ones she owned were too blood stained from her fights to get away with. He didn’t give her much; the bed was a thin mattress with broken springs that rested on a dozen plastic beer crates, the roof was a leaking cement ceiling with the sticky beer from the night before dripping into a pool a foot from Emma’s bed, the food was usually tinned food that hadn’t been heated, the clothes were dirty rags that had been left behind in the bar or at fights. Smee’s monthly expenditure on his guest who often made him surplus of five hundred dollars every fight was rarely above ten dollars a month.

She knew the five hundred dollars a month was to fund his drinking problem so he could replace the bottles in his bar that he drank the night before but she couldn’t argue with the price because even as a tight fisted alcoholic he he’d kept his promise not to rat Emma out to the authorities and get her put back in the system over the last six years.

She also knew that if she didn’t meet his first Friday of the month deadline for his fees he’d beat Emma to a pulp, and part of the deal was she wasn’t allowed to fight back. Even if he had weapons. She was about hundred dollars short for tomorrow night’s fee but if she won a Friday night fight on payday – which tomorrow was for many of the punters that appeared at the fights – she’d be able to cover the five hundred dollar fee and buy herself a warm meal after. And a book. Because although the way that Emma survived was brawn, she adored reading and preferred to use her brain, however, for a sixteen year old who was avoiding the foster system and had been out of education for nearly as long as she’d been in it, surviving on her brain was almost impossible, she had anger, fire and passion and used it to fight. She used it live.


	2. The Debt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second chapter, I hope you enjoy it and leave Kudos.  
> Also I apologize for the errors because I've not been able to edit this chapter as well as I usually edit.  
> In addition, the chapters won't usually be up this quickly, I'm hoping for one a week but I start college in two weeks so they might not be as frequent but I will aim for one chapter a week.

Emma woke early the next day as she always did, she always woke with the sun and worked out to keep her upper body strength to standard. As she stood her whole body ached from the night before her head was spinning from the blow to her head the night prior, she looked at the makeshift night stand – a wooden beer crate – and saw that Killian had left pain killers and water on it, Smee would never do that.

She stood and flexed her arm, it burned like hell. She couldn’t fight tonight. She’d rather miss the fight that loose her stats winning 176 fights in two years and not losing one. She swallowed the painkillers and gulped the water down, stumbling upstairs where smee was passed out on the floor and Killian was holding his head in his hand drinking coffee from a beer bottle.  
“Larger flavoured coffee. Delicious.” Emma stated with a roll of her eyes as she walked behind the bar Killian was sitting at and opened the small door attached to it revealing a selection of glasses.

“Lass it appears as it Smee had no coffee mu-” The Irish man was cut off to the teenager placing two coffee stained off-white mugs on the bar.  
“Apparently I was wrong.”

The girl turned around and placed the coffee mugs under the coffee machine and turned it on.

While the man waited for a mug of coffee that didn’t taste like day old larger he noticed Emma’s right arm hung limply at her side. “How’s the arm, Swan?” he asked.

The blonde remained silent as she handed him his coffee and then turned around to reach hers.

“Can we step outside?” She said softly, her eyes darting to the alcoholic on the floor. Killian figured bad news was to follow and by the way the teenager flinched when Smee groaned in his sleep he also figured she wasn’t able to pay him this month. Killian nodded and picked up his coffee, he and Emma walked the three flights of stairs to the roof of the building. The duo sat on the cement breeze blocks that worked as improvised benches, each taking a sip of their coffee before looking at one another.  
“What’s up, Swan?”  
“I can’t fight tonight” Emma stated bluntly  
“Why not?” he questioned  
Emma explained the state of her arm and Killian agreed that missing a fight rather than losing one would be best.

“One other thing” Emma began  
“You can’t pay Smee” Killian finished for her. All Emma could do was nod.

 

In the six years Killian had known Emma she’d missed two fights when her left wrist was snapped, when she was eleven. however, she was unable to afford to miss a third and had Smee cut her cast off so she could return to the ring. She had also asked for money only once. It was three years ago and about six months since she’d started living with Smee, she was still in training and had been making up the ‘rent’ by selling anything she could whether it was hers or it was stolen. She was short on her second payment by ten bucks and Smee beat her until she was coughing up her own blood; that was the first time she had been beaten so severely. By the time month six had come around Emma had run out of things to sell and was fifty dollars short of the five hundred, desperate not to be beaten she had asked Killian for the money, he lent it to her and four days and two fights later Emma had enough money for that months fee and to pay back what she owed to him.

So now, three years later Killian knew Emma would pay back what she owed and was more than willing to give it to her to stop his alcoholic friend beating her. She was his best fighter after all. But it wasn’t just the fact that this teenager was his best fighter, she had been training under him since she was ten, and over the six years he had become protective of The Swan. He knew she deserved better that to fight two, three, four fights a week, that she deserved to be in education using that brain of hers, that she deserved to be living in a place other than the basement of an alcoholic living of cold meals and living in old clothes. The Swan was like his kid sister.

“How much do you need?”  
Emma took a roll of money out of her back pocket and counted it quickly  
“Ninety seven dollars.”  
“how are you that short of money?” he asked seriously, Emma had never been that short of money, even when she had just started fighting  
“he stole four hundred a week ago. I thought I could make it back. I only made back three hundred and three”  


Killian knew Smee was scum but he was the only friend he had.

Killian removed his wallet and took all the money he had out of it.  
“I have seventy two dollars on me. I’ll have the rest by the time you need to pay him.”  
“Thank you. You’ll get it all back.”  
“I know I will” Killian said, not as a threat but with complete and utter faith in Emma Swan because she had never let him down before.

-

Emma lay on the concrete at the side of Smee’s bar, unconscious. Blood was pouring from her nose and her eye was swollen shut. Her bad arm was now her good arm if the mangled state of her left arm was anything to go by. Her lungs burned, at least one of her ribs were broken and her right leg was unable to move. She regained consciousness half hour later and used her one good leg and both arms, trying to avoid the pain that tore through them both, to push herself up so that she was sitting against the wall.

She was fighting herself to stay conscious. As she felt herself fade into darkness again she felt herself being shaken by someone. She hoped it was Killian. She didn’t have enough fight to keep herself awake and even though her body seared with pain and she was being shaken, she drifted into unconsciousness.


	3. The Girl

Emma woke and felt herself in a bed where the springs weren’t burst. ‘Fuck’ she thought to herself as she kept her eyes shut, the next thought that crossed her mind was that she was in a hospital and was going to be returned into the system. The next thought was incomprehensible but was laced with fear, it was an amalgam of “oh fuck” and “oh god” and “shit” because being a sixteen year old bare knuckle fighter that gets beaten by her rent holder, while living on beer crates in a basement was an easier life than being in the system. At least this life was just being beaten. It was just fighting. For Emma, being in the system had been hiding from foster parent after foster parent, hiding in cupboards, under beds, behind sofas. If she was being hit then, she couldn’t fight back. At least now, she can fight back, she can punch, she can win. And best of all she’s being paid from it. 

Then, then she thought that actually she couldn’t be in a hospital. It didn’t smell like bleach. Or death. Both of which Emma had become accustomed to during her ten years in the system when her case handlers finally decided enough was enough with one family and would move her to another, usually worse, family. Also, the bed was soft, really soft, goose feather soft. Emma stretched and instantly regretted it, every ached and burned like she’d never felt before. Her lungs felt like fire and she began coughing which only made it worse, her body moved as she coughed and she groaned in agony. After a couple of seconds she stopped coughing and lay there, calming her body.  
A few minutes later and her eyes opened – actually one eye opened. The other was still swollen shut - setting instantly on a girl who was slightly older than herself, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen at the absolute most. The girl was sitting on the windowsill at the other side of the room, watching Emma. 

“Good afternoon.” The girl said as she slid of the windowsill and walked towards Emma, her brunette hair falling down her back.  
“Hi.” Emma whispered.  
“I’m Regina.” The brunette said softly  
“I’m-” Emma started  
“The Swan, yeah, I know” Regina cut of the brunette  
“Um, yeah. I’m also known as Emma, by the way.” The blonde said.  
“Nice to meet you, Emma.”  
The blonde smiled softly  
“I mean the circumstances could’ve been much better, but it’s nice to meet you.” Regina continued.  
Emma nodded, “yeah. Wait. You called me The Swan. How do you know my name?”  
“I’ve seen you fight.”  
“Fights aren’t no place for a girl.” Emma said, repeating the line she’d heard so many times  
“I could say the same for you. I watch them – you fight in them.”  
“I see your argument” Emma croaked  
“Is that how you got hurt last night? Were you fighting?”  
“Not quite.”  
Regina went to say something to the blonde but saw Emma open her mouth to speak and stopped herself.  
“Did you find me?”  
Regina nodded, knowing this wouldn’t be the only question Emma had.

“How come you didn’t get an ambulance?”  
“I, um, I thought’d be best not to. I heard rumours around the ring. When I asked about you-” Regina flushed from her neck to her forehead at her accidental admission “people told me different stories about why you fight but they all had the same kind of reasoning behind them. So from what I heard I gathered it’d be best not to bring you. I hope you don’t mind.”  
“No, I don’t mind, thanks for not doing that. Why’d you bring me here? What is this place?”  
“This is my house, you’re in the guest room, its safe here and my father’s a doctor, he’ll be able to help you. I’m pretty sure your left arm and right leg are broken. And a few ribs. And your nose.”  
“Sounds about right.” Emma said with an edge to her voice. It’s what the bastard wanted to do she thought to herself. At Regina’s shocked gasp Emma realised she hadn’t thought it but had muttered it out loud.  
She saw Regina was about to ask about the bastard but Emma didn’t want to answer that so instead she asked for water. Regina complied and poured some iced water from a jug on the nightstand into a crystal cut glass. Emma followed the movement of the brunette and saw that the iPad on the stand that apparently doubled up as an alarm clock showed it was two in the afternoon, on a Sunday.

The blonde graciously accepted the water from Regina and took a sip before speaking again, her throat already feeling better.  
“What rumours had you heard then?”  
“Loads. Most had something about you being an escaped care kid. No one wanted to report you. You were making them money – and lots of it. Some were that you were Hooks kid or niece or something or that you were related to that alcoholic bar owner on 34th. Most people said you’d never been to hospital for your injuries because of the care thing or because Hook would take a cut of your money or that the alcoholic would beat you up.”  
It took Emma a moment to remember who Hook was. Killian. Killian Jones was known as Hook due to his knock-out left hook blows.  
“So, are any of them rumours close to the truth?” Regina suddenly looked embarrassed again “I mean – you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”  
“I’m escaped from the system. Killian is my trainer. Smee- the bar owner – he gives me a place to stay. Killian would never take more than what he placed on me in bets and his winnings. Smee would. And did.”  
Emma could basically see the cogs in Regina’s head turning in her head.  
“Did Smee do this to you? I found you outside his bar.”

Emma faked coughed to avoid answering the question but her chest was still tight and she ended up having a full-blown coughing fit until her face was red, her lungs burned and her open eye streamed. Regina rushed forward with more water for the injured fighter and rubbed circles on her back until Emma stopped coughing.  
“Are you okay?” Regina asked gently, her breath warm on Emma’s neck. The blonde was unsure whether to feel safe or on edge because although she knew this girl was trying to help her, whenever someone had been this close to Emma a punch was about to land on her sternum. Against herself, Emma didn’t ask Regina to move away. Instead she nodded in response to Regina’s latter question, hoping the former question would be forgotten, at least for a little while.  
“Are you sure?” Regina pushed  
“Yes” Emma stated, her voice soft but with an edge to it as she had intended her voice to be strong but it failed her. Like she’d failed herself when she didn’t fight against Smee. Like she’d failed the kids in the shared homes who depended on her to look after them but then she’d run away and then ended up being placed in different homes in different places with different kids who depended on her all the same but she could never help because the oldest she’d been in a shared home was ten years and six days old and by the time she was ten years and six weeks old she was being trained in the art of underground fighting.  
“Emma?” Regina’s soft voice dragged Emma from her thoughts  
“Yes?”  
“You’re thinking pretty deeply there, are you sure you’re okay?”  
Emma nodded once more, she focused on the feeling of Regina rubbing slow circles on her back because she couldn’t afford to think about the kids she felt like she’d failed.


	4. The Outside

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry this took so long to update. College officially began in full force and i was given three deadlines and two weeks and every student is put on 'probation period' where if the work isn't done they're kicked off the course so my focus has had to be on that which was awful because I just wanted to write for you guys. 
> 
> I intend on making up for the time it took between posting this chapter and the one previous and it may not be this week as I am yet to complete this coming Tuesday's chapter and it is currently 11pm on Sunday but at one point or another there will be a chapter or two to make up for the lack of posts recently. 
> 
> I'm also apologising in advance for errors in this. I was desperate to post something so I'm going to re-read it in the morning when i'm more awake.
> 
> Thanks for putting up with my absence, it's much appreciated.

Regina walked into the room from which Emma hadn’t moved from other than to use the en suit. She placed water and fruit on the nightstand next to Emma.  
“Are you going to talk to me today?” The brunette asked softly as she sat back on the windowsill where she had made residence over the past few days. In response the blonde teenager looked back at her arm which had been set in cast two days previous, which was also the last day that Regina had heard Emma say anything.

“ _Emma_.” Regina tried again, Emma looked up again in silence. “Are you going to talk to me today?” Emma just continued to look at Regina in the vain hope that she would give up asking and leave her be. Actually she didn’t want Regina to leave her be, she enjoyed her company but she didn’t want to talk because she knew she would be asked how she ended up unconscious on the street again.

“Suit yourself. But my father said your chest should be able to handle a visit outside. But I told him I’d only bring you outside if you’d say something. So it’s your choice.” Regina hoped his bribe would work, especially since she’d seen Emma look out of the window opposite the bed she’s in more times than she could count.

Emma continued looking at Regina, her face emotionless, though Regina could see something in her eyes. Regina opened the book she was currently reading and began reading it, she’d already read it many times and Emma could tell by the way that Regina held it despite how tattered the copy of the book had become that it was a favourite of Regina’s.

Ten minutes of silence passed between the two teenagers.

“What are you reading?” Emma asked, her voice as croaky as it was when she had first woken on the Sunday afternoon.

Regina smiled at her over the top of her book.

“The Perks of being a Wallflower.”

“Is it good?” Emma asked in an attempt to keep the conversation flowing.

“Yes. It’s brilliant. It’s one of my favourites. Do you read?”

As Emma nodded her response it struck her that her book collection was still at Smee’s bar.

“Do you have a favourite?” Regina asked, noting Emma had stopped talking again.

Emma shook her head, “No, not particularly. I have a few.”

“What are they?”

“One is Fight Club by Chu-”

“Chuck Palahniuk”

“You’ve read it?”

“I’ve got four copies on that bookshelf.”

Emma turned her head and saw a wall-length bookcase “Are these all your books?”

Regina shook her head, Emma looked back at the brunette at the lack of a verbal answer  
  
“No?” Emma enquired

“There are only four hundred or so on there. I’ve got books scattered throughout the house.”

The two lapsed into silence once more, but Regina wasn’t in a rush to make Emma talk again. She knew she’d talk when she was ready.

“Can I go outside now?” Emma asked quietly.

Regina stood to help the blonde as Emma had trouble walking any distance more than the fifteen feet between the bed and the ensuite. She didn’t, however, help Emma more than an arm across her back as last time Regina had suggested crutches or any other form of help it had ended in a dispute twenty minutes before Regina’s father had walked in to assess Emma’s Injuries on the Sunday afternoon.

“Tell me if you need to stop walking for any reason, okay?”

Emma nodded though she thought that Regina was really quite stupid if she thought Emma was going to stop for any reason apart from to take in the outdoors, especially since from the window in her room it looked as if there was no buildings – just country side which Emma hadn’t seen since – well Emma hadn’t seen it at all now that she was thinking about it.

It took half hour to get down the mansion stairs and into the garden because of Emma’s injuries; her left arm was broken, her right bicep had been torn more than it had been, a rib or two had been cracked and although her leg wasn’t broken, there was ligament damage.

Emma had expected a garden, a huge garden considering how big the portion of the house she’d seen was but what she was faced with once she was outside wasn’t a garden but instead there was acres upon acres of land.

Emma sat on a steel bench near the house, Regina cautiously sat next to the blonde - whose eyes she’d noticed shone a more sparkling shade of emerald in he sunlight – she didn’t want to get too close in case Emma got angry, she didn’t seem like the kind of person who lets people get close to her. Especially since whenever anybody had got closer than an arms width from the blonde she would tense her body even though this would normally leave her in agonising pain.

“Where are we?”

“My father’s house. Well, one of them.”

Emma rolled her eyes at that, “No, I meant what state. I’ve never seen so much green in one place.”

“Maine.” Regina said simply.

“ _Maine_?” Emma said as if the very idea of being in Maine was ludicrous. “Maine as in the state nearly eight hours and 500 miles away?”

Regina chuckled softly "From where we are now? No. From where we were Friday night? Yes.”

Emma stayed quiet, partly because she knew that Maine was the place where she had been found abandoned on the side of the road with another kid August. He was seven years older than her and watched over her protectively like a fierce older brother until she was shipped to Boston when she was fostered by a couple who moved there. She still got letters from him every couple weeks but she replied with rarely more than a few lines etched onto old invoices from the bar. She felt like it was weird to be back without him. She knew he was still in Maine, albeit he travelled a lot. She also stayed quiet because she was taking in her surroundings as despite being dragged up rather than raised in Maine, she had only seen urban streets and busy night times. Nowhere anywhere near as peaceful, serene or beautiful as the land Regina’s father owned had been seen by Emma.

She looked out at the acres of nature – the grass, the trees, the flower beds that stretched as far as the eye could see, the blonde was even certain that there was a pond about two acres from where she was sat though from where she was the pond could just as easily be a stream or lake hidden by the masses of bushes and shrubs.

She glanced at Regina – who looked beautiful in the golden sun as she looked out into the distance,  Emma noticed – before looking back at the source of water, watching the mid-morning sun bounce off it.

“You can move closer, you know.” Emma stated softly “You’re about to fall off the bench. I promise I won’t bite you.” She said as a shadow of a smile formed at the corners of her mouth.

Regina slid over so that she was no longer perched on the edge of the bench but instead was only a hands width from being hip to hip with Emma. She saw the traces of a smile on Emma’s face and, as she returned her gaze to the far size of the lake where, if she focused, she could see the stable boy riding his own horse across the pasture, she could feel the traces of a smile form on her own lips at the subtle progress she was making with the fighter sat next to her.


	5. The Questions

Regina sat at her windowsill reading, waiting for Emma to come back the shower. After quarter of an hour she called out to Emma making sure that she was okay and if she needed any help, when the blonde gave a muffled response that she was indeed okay and that, no, she didn’t need any help at that moment in time. Satisfied with the answer for the time being, Regina turned and looked out the window to watch the sky turn from blue to pink to orange as the sun set.

 

After another ten minutes Emma walked back into the bedroom, dressed in a loose clean tshirt and baggy plaid pyjama bottoms that Regina had passed her so that the clothes wouldn’t irritate her wounds. As Emma walked across the room she took in its grandeur for the first time since her arrival four days prior, she realised just how huge the room was with its high ceilings, its plush cream carpet, the dark wood furnishings that Emma believed to be mahogany, the intricate carvings that were embedded into the bed frame and the border that lined the windowsill that Regina was effectively living on.

 

As Emma appreciated the decor of the room she realised just how big the house was, how much land Regina’s father owned – as she thought about that she realised that Regina had said that this house was one of his houses – As she stood there the blonde found herself wanting to know why such an obviously rich family had helped her.

 

“Need some help with your arm?” Regina said from her seat on the sill, interrupting Emma from her thoughts.

 

Emma remembered that the cast that encased her broken arm had been wrapped in a plastic sleeve that Regina had tied on tightly and nodded, walking slowly to Regina so that the brunette could free her arm from the plastic.

 

-

 

Regina bought dinner into the room and sat on the edge of the bed, opposite Emma. The two ate silently for a while but Emma’s curiosity got the better of her

 

“Why did you help me? You’re incredibly rich and you seem really sweet and kind and I’m a broke street fighter who’s entire life possessions can fit into a cardboard box and about eighty percent of that is books.”

 

 Regina stayed quiet for a few minutes. She didn’t  know how to answer the question without sounding weird and she was fairly certain ‘I helped you because ive fancied you for six years’ sounded weird, she also knew that ‘ _fancied_ ’ wasn’t the word she wanted to use. Truth is that Regina had liked – really liked Emma since she entered the fighting ring of her first match.

 

“Because it was the right thing  to do. And besides, money means nothing to me.”

 

Emma didn’t have a response to  that so she remained silent, picking at the food in front of her. 

 

"Emma. Do you think I would have left you there?"

 

The fighter stayed silent for a moment "you wouldn't have left me. But you didn't have to bring me here and keep me safe. You could have just called 911 and kept living."

 

"And miss out on our constant conversation?" She paused as Emma rolled her eyes at the comment. "I wouldn't have left you, dear." 

 

"But why?" 

 

"Just because. Now hush and eat your pizza." Regina asked the house chef to cook pizza after Emma revealed it was one of her favourite foods. 

 

"You spend the week trying to make me talk and now I am you tell me to hush." Emma quipped. It had been said in jest but even she could here a slight edge to her voice. 

 

"Are you annoyed at me?" Regina asked. She normally wouldn't care if someone had been annoyed by her or if she had hurt someone - the lack of empathy had been engrained into her by her mother and the only person she had allowed herself to worry about was her father. And now Emma. 

 

Stupid bloody feelings. Stupid bloody New York. _Feeling were weakness_. 

 

"No. No, I'm not. I'm not annoyed at you. I was just wondering why you chose to help me and keep me out the system." 

 

In response Regina just slid another pizza slice over to Emma. 

 

Emma took the cue and bit into the pizza. 

 

"How did you know me from the fights?"

 

"Pardon, dear?"

 

"How did you know me? You called me the swan when I woke up. You told me you'd been to the fights. Why were you at the bar that night? How had you been to them enough to know me? Why were you at the fights when you live here? Why did you bring me here?" The blonde said, exasperated gesturing around the room with her 'good' arm, still holding the crust of a pizza slice. 

 

"Which do you really want to know about? Why did I know you? Or why had I been there in the first place? Or why was I there that night?"

 

"All of it. All of the questions. I want all of the answers"

 

" _All of the answers_? Okay then dear, the first fight I went to was about two weeks before your first fight. I had ran away from home. I headed to New York to stay with a friend and I got there at about two am. I was walking around the streets and heard shouting. I followed it down to the basement of a warehouse about two blocks from Smees bar. There was a fight. A fighter died that night, dear. Did you know? You probably did. It was hooks greatest fighter that killed the man. Well, he was relegated to  the second greatest fighter since your arrival on the fight scene. 

 

I stayed in New York for three weeks. My father knew where I was and I kept him updated but he didn't come and get me on my request because he knew it was good for me. To be away from my mother I mean - not living in the city at the age of twelve. I saw your first fight the second week I was there. You fought once more before I went home. 

 

My father is into fighting and boxing. He liked breaking the rules too so I told him of the fight ring. I told him about how this young girl - my age. Possibly younger - had knocked out a man twice, thrice her size. And so he agreed to come to New York with me two weeks later to watch this girl fighter." 

 

She paused to pour Emma and herself a glass of water each. After taking a sip she continued her story. 

 

"He came to New York and bet on you. He bet on you to win and came out nearly two thousand dollars richer. Over the next two years we visited most years. Usually over the weekends, until gradually we realised we spending more time in New York away from my mother and enjoying ourselves and watching you fight than we were spending in Maine so in the end Maine - this house - became our weekend home. Though we were rarely there at weekends because that's when your bigger fights were. I was there that weekend because you fought the Thursday night; thank you  for paying for my breakfast Friday morning by the way." Emma scoffed but a smile crossed her lips. 

 

"I was walking to my apartment with my father when I came across you Friday morning. We bought you here. I'd told you That I'd heard you were a system escapee. I told my father and he bought you here because we didn't want you back in care if you that desperate to get away from it that you had become a underground fighter."

 

"Why did you move city to watch me fight?"

 

_Because I love you._

 

"Because you're a fascinating fighter, Miss Swan."


	6. The Laughter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS im really sorry this is late again but college is getting harder than i thought, it should ease off for two or three weeks hopefully.
> 
> Also i apologise because this chapter is probably riddled with mistakes and ill go through and fix it as soon as i can when im not half asleep because i stayed up till 2am because i live streamed the new episode. How good was 5x02 though?! it was so worth it.

Emma sat in silence glaring at Regina. Regina sat in silence glaring at Emma. 

 

The duo had been sitting like that for five minutes, waiting for one another to crack, to look away or talk. 

 

Eventually Emma, despite herself,  spoke. She'd never backed down first before but she needed a phone and she needed to not hurt Regina. 

 

No, she scalded herself, she just wanted a phone. Regina could be hurt. She'd taken an underground street fighter into her home, she should be expecting backlash at one point or another. 

 

"Can I use your phone?" 

 

"So you can make sure Smee’s okay?" Regina growled out. 

 

The two had clashed half hour prior when the topic of whether Smee had beat Emma had been raised by Regina again. Emma had responded by avoiding the question and then almost defending the sleaze. 

 

"He's a raging alcoholic. He probably had no idea what he was doing."

 

"Oh yeah. He completely didn't realise he beat you to a pulp and left you for dead after stripping you of all your money." Regina had replied curtly. 

 

Emma had responded with a glare and a sharp "go fuck yourself." She had expected Regina to flinch or storm out but instead the elder of the two remained at the end of the bed with her right ankle tucked under her left thigh and her left knee drawn up and resting under her chin. Regina, not to be one to put out by Emma, responded by giving Emma a glare that surely had to be practised because it unsettled Emma it was that dark. 

 

"No. Actually. To make sure Hook is still alive. And if he can go get my stuff from Smee’s."

 

Regina relented at that. She knew Emma had next to no belongings. She slid her phone out of her hoodie pocket and passed it to Emma. 

 

"Thanks." Emma said, she tried to be harsh but the bite just wasn't there. 

 

"No problem." Regina stood to give Emma space and left the room. She wanted to make sure that Emma did not ring Smee so she sat outside the door. 

 

"Killian," Emma said as soon as the phone was answered. 

"Swan. Where the fuck are you?"

"Maine. Listen-"

"Maine?!" Killian interrupted. "What the fuck are you doing in Maine?" He exploded. 

"Avoiding your scum bag of a friend." Emma barked back. Her lungs clearly weren't prepared for shouting and she because coughing uncontrollably for a minute or two. 

 

"What did he do?"

"You know what he fucking did, Killian."

"How bad?"

"I was unconscious for two days. I have a broken arm. The tear in my right arm is worse than before. Broken ribs. Ligament damage in my leg. Black eye. Pretty bad concussion I believe. He nearly killed me."

 

"That fucking piece of shit. I'm going to kill him!" Killian growled, Emma could practically hear the list of ways Killian was going to torture Smee already. She could also hear floorboards creaking which meant that firstly, he was at the training ring and secondly, he was pacing which is what he did when he was angry. 

 

"Before you kill him can you get my stuff?"

"What stuff?"

"My books and my photos. If he's not burnt them. If you can't get them all just get the one of me and L. And you. Please."

"It's the least I can do."

"Don't I fucking know it?" Emma snarled 

 

"I'm sorry I didn't get the money to you in time. I'll do whatever I can when I next see you." 

 

"Well that might be a while."

 

"Wait. You said Maine."

"Well-fucking-done, Einstein."

 

"How did you get to Maine if he nearly killed you?"

 

"A girl- Regina- found me. Her dads a doctor. They bought me to Maine to recover."

 

"Ohhh a girl eh?" A blush formed at the base of Emma’s neck 

 

"Yeah. A girl." 

 

"A pretty girl?"

 

"Regina’s not pretty."

 

Regina began regretting sitting outside the door. If she wanted her self-esteem to be knocked she would have talked to her 'friends' 

 

"She's fucking Gorgeous." Emma finished. 

 

Regina blushed fiercely from outside the door, deciding that sitting outside the door was the best thing she had done in a very long time. 

 

"Ohh swanny, you gonna get some?"

"Don't be so fucking crude. I think she’s straight. Anyway, I'm still pissed at you. Get my stuff. I'll send you an address or something."

 

"A’ight. Keep in touch, Swan."

"Kay." Emma said as she hung up. 

 

Regina left it another few minutes before she re-entered the bedroom, she spent the time trying to regulate her breathing that had quickened when Emma had called her gorgeous.

 

“Hook still alive?” Regina asked as she walked into the room.

“Yeah, Smee might not be for much longer though.” Emma replied as she sat up straighter, a task still much harder than it should have been. Emma held the phone out to Regina as she approached the bed on the way to the windowsill.

 

Regina took the phone, sliding it into her pocket once more. She also took the opportunity to sit at the edge of the bed rather than the sill.

 

“Is Hook going to beat him?”

“If he gets his way, he’s going to kill him.”

 

“And that’s a bad thing?” Regina questioned, she seriously couldn’t see the downside to Smee dying.

“Well, if Killian gets caught ad goes down, it won’t be a bloody good thing, if we’re being honest.” Emma deadpanned with a deadly serious expression.  
  
Suddenly the conversation the two girls were actually having and the fact that she had considered murder, along with the flatness in Emma’s response struck Regina and the older teenager burst out laughing at the audacity of the conversation.

 

Emma was startled at the burst of laughter but Regina had one of _those_ laughs, the kind of laugh that made whole rooms laugh along with her. The laughter combined with the grin on Regina’s face, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes where the laughter made her eyes sparkle, Emma felt happy for the first time in ages, really happy, and there was no other reason Emma could think of for being happy other that the brunette laughing in front of her, and after a moment the blonde began laughing too.

 

It took at least five minutes for the two to calm themselves down due to the fact that whenever Emma attempted to compose herself, she would look at Regina and begin laughing again, eventually the two stifled their laughter enough to have a quick conversation with Dr. Mills, who had knocked on the door to talk to the teenagers.  
  
“Good to see you’re doing better, Emma.” The man said as he opened the door, seeing the two girls red-faced and glistened-eyed from laughing, his daughter was still shaking with silent laughter.  
“I am, thank you, Dr. Mills.” Emma composed herself.  
“Henry, please.”  
Emma nodded, “Henry.” She echoed.  
  
She felt it was weird to call a man of such grander by his forename, especially as Doctor Henry Mills had been wearing suits on both occasions that Emma had been graced with his presence. The suits didn’t look cheap either. Instead they looked to be made from the finest materials and were tailored perfectly to the stature of Dr Henry Mills. The man was short, probably shorter than Regina and most definitely shorter than Emma, he was stocky and his hair was greying and face was aged, however, Emma believed the wrinkles in his forehead ad by his eyes had been caused by smiling rather than a strenuous lifetime.

 

“How are your injuries?” The doctor enquired  
“Better. My arm is itchy as hell though. I think going outside helped, like the movement, for the rest of my injuries, not the itchy arm.”

“It’s good to hear that you’re getting better, Emma. It’s good to hear you speak, actually, seeing as our last conversation was really quite one sided.”

“I intended on apologising for that.” Emma admitted sheepishly, she may be a streetfighter but she prided herself on maintaining her manners – as often as she could at least.

Henry shook his head with a gentle smile “Don’t worry about it, dear girl, it’s quite alright, if I’m being honest I as half expecting you to be entirely uncooperative.”  
Emma smiled “I may be an idiot but I’m not an idiot enough to refuse help if it’s being offered to me and I need it.”

 

Regina had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop her from laughing out loud or arguing with Emma on that because she had been witness to many times when Emma had needed help, been offered it and then flat out refused to accept it. Henry had seen this too and chose not to follow that trail of conversation as he did not want to push Emma into a bout of silence and instead changed the topic.  
  
“That’s good to hear. Also  girls, I came up to inform you that dinner will be ready in ten minutes and I wanted to know if you would be eating up here again or if you would like to join myself downstairs this evening?”  
  
Emma looked at Regina who was absolutely no help because she was still silently laughing and just shrugged in response.  
  
“Downstairs would be wonderful, thank you.” Emma answered.  
“I’ll see you both down there.” Henry replied as he closed the door.  
  
Emma threw a cushion at Regina haphazardly as neither arm was ready for throwing yet, the blondes actions only caused Regina to laugh out loud once more, tears falling down her face.  
  
“idiot.” Emma muttered to Regina before bursting into laughter herself


	7. The Offer

Regina walked into the Emma’s room and couldn’t see the blonde on the bed where she normally sat, Emma had taken to spending her afternoons reading books from Regina’s bookshelf.  
  
It had been three days since Emma had joined Henry and Regina downstairs for a meal for the first time, a meal that was surprisingly incredibly comfortable, Emma had impeccable table manners which is one thing that Regina hadn’t expected from Emma. She wondered where Emma had learnt to be so eloquent at the dining table, she was later informed that Emma had once been fostered by an upper class family when she was five or six and they drilled table manners into her before they sent her back to a group home because she refused to be moulded into the ideal upper class child.

 

Regina also noticed that Emma had seemed slightly more settled and comfortable since that dinner.

 

Regina assumed Emma was in the en suit and walked further into the room to sit on her windowsill. As she sat she noticed blonde locks rising and falling from the side of the bed, she slid of the sill and moved round the room to see Emma doing one-handed push-ups, and the arm with the torn bicep was kept close to Emma’s body. Her cast arm on the floor, bent at the elbow, Regina watched Emma’s bicep bend as Emma worked out on her injured arm. Regina stood there for a few seconds, which was long enough for Emma to do ten reps.   
  
“Emma.” Regina said. Making the blonde aware of the brunette’s presence in the room.

Emma stopped what she was doing and looked up,

“Regina.” She acknowledged before she started working out again. This time her cast arm was against her body while her other arm was straightened out, bending only when Emma was low to the ground.

 

“What are you doing?”  
“I’m working out.” Emma deadpanned as if the answer wasn’t obvious.

“Why?”  
“I’ve got to keep fit. I’ve got to start fighting again soon.”

 

Emma’s words felt like a blow to the stomach with an iron fist for Regina. She had to stop herself from physically recoiling at the shock. She didn’t know why it hurt her so much. ‘Of course Emma would have been thinking about fighting again, it had been her livelihood for years’ Regina thought to herself. Though, before that moment, Regina had thought that maybe Emma wouldn’t want to go back to the fighting. That now that she had a home – _oh_. It hit Regina that perhaps Emma didn’t think of the Mills’ out of city mansion as home, maybe she thought of it as temporary while she recovered. Regina resolved to make sure that Emma knew that she had a home.

 

“Why?”

“Because I have to make money somehow.” Emma said simply

“Why?”  
“So that I can find somewhere other than Smee’s basement to live in.”

“Why?” Regina asked again, she was aware she probably sounded like a persistent four year old but she didn’t know what else to say

“Because I can’t stay here forever.”

 

“Yes you can.”

 

Emma stopped mid push up.

 

“What?”

 

“You can stay here forever. I mean, when me and my father go into New York City you would have to come too of course, but you can stay here forever. Or, um, as long as you want. It’s not like keeping you prisoner or anything. You can leave if you want.”

“That’s a big offer, Regina.”  
“It’s not.”

“That’s a huge offer, Regina.” Emma said as she stood up to sit on the edge of the bed.

“It’s not a huge offer, Emma. I’m offering you somewhere to stay that isn’t a dingy beer-stained basement that costs $500 and your health every month. I’m offering you a home. For free.”

 

“But you’ve already done so much for me.”

 

Regina exhaled a breath she’d been holding, it occurred to her that Emma might have taken it as a sigh but she didn’t care.

 

“We’ve done nothing. My father did his job as a doctor and helped you and I did nothing apart from sit on a windowsill reading book. Emma. I’m serious. I would rather you stay with us and stay safe and not be beaten up for missing rent. Being completely honest with you I would rather it if you are not be beaten up at all.”

“You want me to quit fighting.” It was a statement rather than a question.

“Yes. Because I want you to be safe. It’s your choice. Of course it is. Fighting’s part of you and I understand that but I’d rather it if you didn’t fight.”

“Why are you so determined to keep me safe?”

“Because I am.” Regina could feel a blush at the base of her neck, gradually rising and heating her face as she spoke.

“I’ll think about your offer okay?”

Regina nodded. Emma’s answer was more than she had been hoping, if she was being honest with herself she was expecting Emma to completely shoot her down and refuse to stay.

 

“Doesn’t working out on two bad arms hurt?” Regina said, changing the direction of their conversation a little.

“Not as much as you’d think it would. But that might be because I’m used to it though.” Emma stated.

 

Regina hated thinking of Emma hurting, she felt almost like a hypocrite to herself, like she was betraying her own feelings because she wouldn’t currently be trying to let Emma know she was safe If she hadn’t gone to watch Emma fight in underground fights up to six times per week where she knew Emma was being hurt more or less daily. But, Regina reasoned with herself, before she spoke to Emma she only knew Emma as the beautiful girl from the ring who was the only female fighter and the only person to have won nearly every single fight they had ever participated in. She knew Emma as a fighter who was the trophy fighter for Hook. She knew Emma through rumours that she was the runaway foster kid who had ties to an alcoholic and a trainer. Now she knows Emma she knows the blonde is so much more than that and all she wants to do is protect her and keep her safe and _love her_.

 

Regina could feel herself blush at her admission to herself and stood to excuse herself from the room.

 “My father said to let you know lunch will be at one in the dining room if you’re joining us, Emma.” Regina said as she stood to leave, as she approached the door Emma spoke.

 

“Regina?”

“Yes, Emma?” she said as she turned back to the blonde who was now lying on the bed, the arm that wasn’t casted was behind her head and she had a smug look on her face

 

“I know why you want to protect me, by the way.” She taunted, a mischievous gleam dancing in her eyes

 

“Oh yes? And why do I want to protect you, Emma?”

 

“Because you fancy me. But that’s cool because I fancy you too.”

 

Regina blushed like mad and grinned at the blonde who was now smiling impishly to herself.

 

“Well, isn’t that just lucky?” Regina quipped as she left the room to help her father in his office.


	8. The Distraction

“Regina, dear, are you okay?” Henry asked his daughter, he had watched her cross out calculation after calculation, she had crossed out more calculations in the last ten minutes than she had the last ten months combined, which worried him. Especially since the teenager was becoming frustrated at herself for what were clearly basic mistakes that she wouldn’t be making if she was focused at the task at hand – Accountancy. Regina was a genius when it came to mathematics and so when she had offered to help Henry sort out his finances fortnightly eighteen months ago he snapped up her offer because she would make nowhere near as many mistakes as he would – until now. 

“Of course I am Father. Why do you ask?” Regina replied quickly. She was stressing herself out about both, the numbers in front of her and the mistakes she was making that she felt were elementary, and the fact that the girl that she had liked for the last six years had just announced that she returned Regina’s feelings and Regina had no idea how to respond to this sudden show of emotion from the blonde. 

“Because, Mija, you have not messed up my accounts this much since… ever. In fact you’ve not messed anything up this much since you messed up your literature essay when Daniel was here. What is rattling around that brain of yours?”  
Regina had flinched almost un-noticeably at the mention of her past love, but a smile and a faint blush had painted her face at the thought of Emma.  
“Emma, father.”  
“Well, aren’t you just smitten? You’re blushing almost as fiercely as you did the first day you brought me to watch her fight.”  
Regina hadn’t realised that the faint blush on her neck and cheeks had deepened to a crimson when she had said Emma’s name aloud to her father.  
“Daddy!” Regina whined “I am not!”  
“You really are, Mija. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about dear. It’s really quite endearing. It’s nice to see you happy.”  
“I am Papa.”  
“That’s good. However, I must ask, what has you so distracted? She has been living here for three weeks now, why are you only just blushing?”  
“Because Papa, she has just decided to let me know that she is aware that I am infatuated with her, and she I.”  
“And how did you react to that, Mija?”  
Regina looked away from her father as the blush that masked her face became, somehow, even deeper than it had been.  
“Mija?”  
Regina continued to divert her eyes from her father who was watching her expectedly.  
“Mija,” Henry tried again “did you just make a witty comment and walk out the room?”  
Regina was always amazed at how well her father knew her and dhow she reacts to everything, even a situation as unusual the one that had unfolded itself of Regina.  
“How did you know?” She asked her father, finally meeting his eyes.  
“Because, Mija, I’m your Papa. I know everything.”

Regina smiled at this, because she knew it was true. Her father meant the world to her and he knew everything about his daughter.

“So what are you going to do now?”  
“I… I don’t actually know Papa.”  
“Okay then, I’ll tell you what you’re going to do, shall I?”

All Regina could do was nod.

“You’re going to be yourself okay? You’re going to go to back to Emma and be your witty, knowledgeable, genius, book reading self, okay Mija.”

“Why are you so okay with this Papa? Any other father would have put a stop to this”  
“I think that we are a few years and a few hundred fights too late to ‘put a stop to this.’ Anyway, you deserve happiness.”

Regina nodded once more and hugged her father, who truly was the most amazing person that she knew. 

“Now, Mija,” he said softly to his daughter as he pulled away from the hug to look at her face, “You’re going to go back upstairs and talk to this girl.”  
“Why are you so determined to push me and Emma together?”  
“Because there’s only so long you can wait before she begins to feel dejected. And there’s only so many times you can cross out mathematical errors before you scratch my desk.” He said with a smile and a glint in his eye. 

“Okay Papa.” Regina removed herself from her father’s gaze and left the office. 

The girl walked slowly through the house, wondering what she would say to Emma.

She approached the bedroom and took a deep breath; she hasn’t figured out what she would say but she would figure it out as she spoke.

She entered the bedroom and saw that Emma had once again vacated the bed that she had been lying across smugly less than twenty minutes prior.

She walked across the room and saw that Emma wasn’t beside the bed working out and that the En Suit was left open, she walked to the door and saw the en suit, too, was empty.

Regina walked to the window sill, not knowing what she expected to see when she looked out of the window hoping that she would see the blonde. She rushed downstairs, practically running through the hallways of the ground floor, she skidded into the dining room doorframe, bruising her arm on impact. Regina saw the Dining room, and the kitchen beside it were empty. She rushed through the rooms and ran outside, she rushed around to the back the mansion and then ran down to the lake, hoping that Emma was exploring her surroundings. 

When she saw that Emma wasn’t there the panic that Regina had been suppressing exploded to the surface and pulsed through the brunette’s veins to the point where she had to double over on herself to catch her breath. 

As she stood to continue looking for the blonde Regina heard shouting, Emma shouting. She rushed to the west side of the house, where she hadn’t looked previous to running to the lake. Halfway between the lake and the side of the house Regina heard tyres skidding on the gravel that surrounded the house and her running became a sprint. She reached the west side if the mansion and saw smashed glass on the floor, she looked at her house and saw that none of the windows were broken which confused her even more than she already was. As she looked at the ground once more, she saw traces of blood and her heart lurched to her stomach. 

Regina ran again, this time she was heading to her father’s office so she could tell him that Emma was gone, and that she was hurt, however, as she reached the door she saw a piece of paper placed neatly on the front steps. 

Regina looked at the scrawled handwriting and fell to her knees as she read the singular sentence on the page. 

“Thanks for looking after my Golden Girl.  
-S.”


	9. The Panic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I am so, so sorry that this chapter has taken so long to post; college has gotten pretty full on all of a sudden and I've had to focus on that and then when I finally did get the time to sit and write the motherboard in my laptop went to and shit and fried and I lost all my writing and college work. 
> 
> I apologise if this looks scruffy, I'm editing on my iPod so the line breaks look different on this. 
> 
> Also, I'm going to go through and italicise at some point when I can get access to a computer. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter and any and all comments that you have are always welcome. 
> 
> I will, as always, re-read and edit out any errors when I am more awake. 
> 
> Thanks for your patience guys, it means a lot to me. 
> 
> -Sammieyyyyy

Regina walked to her father’s office, feeling sick to her stomach, her hands trembling, and the sheet of paper shaking violently in her grip. She walked like a zombified version of herself straight into the office, barely noticing that Henry was on the phone.

‘-Do excuse me, an emergency has occurred. I’ll ring you back.’ He said as he hung the phone up and stood from his desk.

 ‘Regina. What’s wrong?’ He asked gently.

The teenager was unable to answer, every time she opened her mouth to speak she choked on the lack of air around her.

‘Can I Step closer, Mija?’ Henry knew that his daughter was in shock over something, the last time she was in shock she wouldn’t let anybody near her and screamed whenever somebody stood closer. She had nearly died that time.

The girl nodded and thrust an arm towards her father, the piece of paper shaking so much that it had become a blur to Henry. The man took a step towards Regina, close enough that he could take the paper from Regina.

He read the note, and he began to feel sick himself. ‘Mija, you need to lie down.’

Regina attempted to say something in response but it was lost in her tightening throat. ‘We will get Emma back. I promise. But we need to get you through this first. Please, Mija. Please lie down.’

Regina nodded and reluctantly allowed herself to be led to the sofa in the corner of the office.

‘Don’t forget to elevate your feet, dear.’ Henry said gently.

She rested her feet on the arm of the sofa, Henry walked to his desk and pulled something from the top drawer, and he returned to Regina’s side and passed her a brown paper bag before sitting on the floor alongside his daughter.

It took ten minutes for Regina to calm down enough to breathe properly, it took another five until she was able to talk.

‘It was Smee.’

‘Smee?’

‘He’s the one who beat Emma up. He used to beat her often, I think.’

‘And you think it was him who took her?’

‘I know he took her. I think she’s hurt again, there’s blood on the ground outside.’

‘Okay, Mija. What I’m going to do is go outside and check the glass and the blood. You, dear, are going to stay right here and stay lying down.’

Regina nodded knowing it was the only way to make her father leave the room and leave her alone.

As soon as he had left the room and shut the door behind him the girl sat up and the moment she knew that he was out of earshot and that he wouldn’t be able to see her, she ran from the office and raced up the stairs into her room.

She got into her room but noticed that her phone wasn’t on charge where she had left it that morning and it wasn’t on Emma’s bed, the bedside table or the windowsill; the place where Emma would have left the phone if she had used it to contact Hook again.

Regina furiously searched her room. It wasn’t there. It hadn’t dropped under the bed, down the side of the bookshelf, it wasn’t in the bathroom. It was gone.

The brunette sprinted back out of her room, and down the stairs, taking them two, three at a time and jumping from the sixth from bottom stair to the ground before continuing her sprint to the west side of the house where she found her father leaning over, examining the shards of glass and the blood on them.

She had to halted, literally skidding to a stop on the gravel to stop herself from barrelling into her father.

‘Papa!’

‘Regina! I told you to stay lying down’

‘I know, papa, I know, but my phone is missing, Emma had been using it to contact Hook so I was going to use it to see if Hook knew anything about this and if he would be able to help us but now the phone is gone, I think Smee took that too, or it was on her when Smee took her.

’Mija, take a breath. Are you sure your mobile isn’t in your room?’

‘Of course I’m sure Papa!’ Regina exclaimed exasperated.

‘And you say that Emma or Smee have it?’

Regina could only nod as she calmed herself, she was starting to panic again and felt sick once more as the severity of the situation washed over her once more.

‘Alright then, Mija. I’m going to ring your mobile. See if anyone answers.’

‘What if Emma has hidden it and the noise of you ringing her reveals it and he hurts her?’ Regina questioned.

‘Mija, I think we’re going to have to ring the police’

‘NO!’ the teenager burst. ‘No, papa! If we call the police and they get to her they’ll put her back into the system! She’ll never forgive us for that!’

‘What we’re going to do then Mija, is drive down to New York, see if Hook knows anything. If he doesn’t, and if Emma doesn’t use the phone by midnight tomorrow, we will get the police involved. I will bring my mobile in case she tries to contact you through that.’

Regina nodded once more.

‘I’ll meet you in the car in fifteen minutes’ Henry said to his daughter as he moved a stray piece of her hair from her face to meet her eyes. She nodded a third time and turned, walking away and towards the house. She grabbed a few bottles of water and some more paper bags for fear she started panicking in the car. She was sitting in the car within four minutes, Henry himself was starting the car’s ignition only seven minutes after he had told his daughter Emma had 32 hours to get in contact before the police were involved.

The duo drove into New York faster than they ever had before, Henry had pulled into the parking Lot above Hooks training ring only three hours after leaving Maine. Regina had raced down into Hooks office before Henry had even turned the car’s engine off.

‘Darling, can I help you? If you’re here to learn to fight you’re in luck because my best fighter is on Vacation.’ Hook drawled in a thick Irish accent, he was looking at Regina in an almost predatory way, his eyes were dark, though that could be because they were outlined by, was that Guyliner? Regina almost, almost snickered at that.

‘Regina Mills.’ She said extending her hand, rolling her eyes at Hooks opening line, his gaze immediately changed into a welcoming one, one that didn’t make Regina feel like she was about to be hit on by the leather-clad man in front of her. ‘Is that what you’re telling people? That Emma is on vacation?’

‘Killian Jones.’ He replied taking Regina’s hand briefly before he shut the office door ‘though, if you’re here I’m guessing you already knew that, because I know exactly who you are, Regina." the girls name rolled off his tongue. "And yes, that’s what I’m telling people, it doesn’t quite seem right to tell the punters that their favourite fighter was beaten within an inch of her life outside of the ring, and that she’s now recovering in Maine.’

‘That is why I’m here.’

‘Because I’m lying?’ Hook inquired

‘No, because Emma isn’t in Maine.’ Regina corrected.

‘What do you mean Emma isn’t in Maine?’ the Man practically spat, Regina could see that he was suddenly very angry, Regina in turn became incredibly worried that the man in front of her would give her a demonstration that included her face and his fist as to why he was called hook.

‘She was taken by Smee. About four hours ago. She was taken by him but I’m not sure how because he wasn’t in the house and neither I nor my father heard his car pull up. The house wasn’t damaged but there was smashed glass and blood on the ground outside the house. I think she’s bleeding. I heard her shout and I ran to her but by the time I got there she was gone. Also, either she or Smee has my phone, I’m not sure which one but one of them do.’

‘Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, Miss Regina. Emma is missing?’

‘Yes.’

'And there was glass and blood down the side of ye house?’

‘Yes.’

‘Nobody knows what vehicle took Emma?’

‘Yes.’

‘Your phone is gone?’

‘Yes.’

'And you think it was Smee?’

‘Yes! If you needed me to repeat you could have just asked instead of repeating sentences to me as questions!’ Regina exploded.

‘Calm yourself, Regina! Is there any evidence that Smee has taken Emma?’ Regina passed Hook the now crumpled note that had been left on her doorstep.

Hook read the note. Then he read it holding it up to the light. Then he read it once more. He didn’t quite believe what he was reading.

He passed the note back to Regina.

‘We better start looking for her then, Lass, because if that son of a bitch does have her, she's in danger." 


	10. The Search

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long, I'm just really shitty at keeping a schedule.
> 
> I hope you like this and, as always, your kudos and any comments are welcome and greatly appreciated.

_‘1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2...’_

_Left hook, right hook, left hook, right hook, left hook, right hook …_

‘Are you a fucking DJ?’ The man in the corner shouted, he was sitting on top of stacked wooden

crates, nearly six foot off the ground.

‘ _I asked_ ; Are you a fucking DJ?’ He exploded, throwing an empty glass bottle at the head of the girl in front of him, she ducked from the bottle before returning to the punch bag that had been filled

with sand.

‘ _No!_ ’ the girl in front of him shouted back in return.

‘ ** _NO?_** Prove it. You’re meant to be a fucking fighter! Stop with the stupid one, two, one, two, testing

a fucking microphone because I’m a fucking DJ shit and mix it up. Fucking beat it up. Every opponent you have will know what you’re doing if you just go left hook, right hook all the fucking time. You

were one of the best fighters in New York City a month ago. _WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!_ ” he screamed at her, well, rather he slurred.

Another bottle, full this time, flew across the room. The girl caught it.

‘ _I asked you **WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?”**_

“You! You happened you sick son of a bitch! You happened! You beat me black and blue! _You_ _happened!_ ”

 

She hurled the beer bottle back towards him, aiming half a foot above his head, it shattered against the wall, glass and warm beer spraying over the alcoholic.

The man slid off the crates, landing on his feet, he walked over to the girl, slowly in measured steps, she couldn’t decide if he was walking like that to intimidate her or because he was drunk.

‘You do not talk to me like that,’ he whispered into her ear ‘talk to me like that again-‘he grabbed her by the shoulder ‘and I _will_ kill you.’

‘Whatever.’ She spat.

 

He gave her a punch to the stomach with his other hand before turning her back to the punch bag.

‘Now, do more than your DJ impression and fucking punch the bag properly.’

 

She punched the bag until her knuckles bled, until she couldn’t decide if she could see the bone or if sand was in her wounds. Her blood was smeared over the punch bag, and yet she continued. She couldn’t decide if it was five hours or fifteen she’d been standing there, punching the bag. Her broken arm hurt like it had been broken once more, and, considering the fact that the cast that had been placed on her arm had been ripped off, discarded on the floor and that she had been punching a sand-filled punch bag for hours, it probably had been broken again.

She had been following his orders whenever he shouted numbers – though he only shouted them whenever he hadn’t got a bottle of alcohol in his mouth. Eventually, he ran out. He had expected her to break long before he had ran out of beer, however, hours later, he was out of beer and she was still going strong.

He threw a few more empty bottles at the girl, just because he could, each of those she either caught or moved out of their trajectory.   
He then stood up and trudged up the stairs, up to the bar.

She took a few more shots at the bag, out of anger more than anything, before she leant against it, she didn’t want to sit for fear she wouldn’t be able to get back up. After taking a few breaths she stood up straight and took the mobile that she had hidden in her bra, she turned it on and sent a text that was composed of one word.

To: Papa

Text: Alive.

She turned the phone off to reserve the battery and placed it back into her bra.

-

In Hooks office, Regina was arguing with hook over who should go and visit Smee’s bar in case he was there with Emma. If hook went, Smee would probably beat Emma, if Regina or her father went, they would probably be beaten by Smee, and despite the fact that both of the Mills’ liked to believe they were immortal, they didn’t want to put it to risk; Regina was refusing to let her aging father be attacked and Henry was just as adamant that there was no way his daughter was being beaten up, especially by a man who was capable of dragging the notorious Emma Swan to the brink of death.

After ten minutes of arguing and Regina’s temper growing to the point she had stormed out of the office, only to return less than a minute later, it was decided that all three would go, but only once the bar was open to patrons. In the hours that they waited to opening time they devised a plan, albeit a very vague plan that didn’t really explain anything in much detail, but a plan; they’d go to the bar, Hook would talk to Smee, Regina would go downstairs into the basement and see if Emma, or any new-looking trace of Emma was there, and Henry would be in his car outside of the bar’s emergency exit where Regina, and hopefully Emma, would leave, they would drive to the Mills’ city home and Hook would join them once he had got away from Smee.

As they were planning the text tone that Henry had attached to his daughter’s phone number blared throughout the room. He pulled his phone from his pocket and read the message. 

‘Well,’ he started, looking at two very expectant pairs of eyes that were staring at him ‘She’s alive.’

‘And?’ Hook asked, aggravated that the eldest of the two men had only given him such a brief summary of the text message.

‘That’s it I’m afraid. The text message only contains the word ‘Alive’.’ Henry concluded, passing his phone to Hook to prove that he was not withholding information.

‘Trust the girl to not give us anything that could help us’ he muttered as he began typing a message.

‘What are you saying to her?’ Regina asked, she was glad that Emma was alive but she was annoyed at the fact that Emma hadn’t said where she was, then again, she thought to herself, maybe Emma didn’t know where she was herself.

‘I’m asking her where she is.’ Hook growled as he passed the mobile phone back to Henry.

The trio had had no response from Emma by the time Smee’s bar opened and so they decided to carry out their plan to visit the bar. They pulled up a block over from the bar and hook walked to the bar first to distract, and probably fight, Smee. Regina followed him and arrived at the bar a couple of minutes later, as she walked in she saw Hook talking to someone behind the bar who was not the alcohol soaked man she had seen at the fights.

As she walked towards the basement she overheard Hook asking where Smee was, she knew that Smee not being in sight wasn’t good news so she waited, leaning against the wall, for Hook to finish his conversation.

‘He’s not here’ hook said as he got closer ‘We just missed him, David over there doesn’t know if he had Emma with him but he’s certain that Smee left about ten minutes go.’ Regina could tell that Hook was stressed because she knew as well as he did that if they’d left as soon as the text had arrived that they would have Emma, that Smee wouldn’t have escaped.


	11. The Basement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this. Kudos and Comments are always welcome :)

Hook stood in front of Regina and began walking down the stairs, Regina following him, he nudged the door open with his foot to make sure it was empty, and then walked into the room, Regina walked in and instead of following Hook she walked straight over to what could only have been Emma’s old bed; she was shocked, the mattress was torn and thin, it lay on top of rotting wooden crates, as she got closer she saw something sticking out of one of the tears, she pulled it out gently, it was an envelope full to the brim with letters, some hadn’t been taken out of their original envelopes yet, Regina put her arm into the tear and pulled out a few more letters and some photos, she searched the bed and pulled everything she could out, mostly just photos but the odd letter was dragged out, Regina moved the mattress of its crates and found a mobile phone, an old one that looked worn out, and some books, she collected everything she could find – every piece of Emma she found – and slid them into her rucksack.

‘I was meant to give those to her.’ She heard Hook say from behind her.

She didn’t say anything in response but instead opened up filing cabinets to try to find more things that belonged to Emma.

‘I think that’s how Smee found her, I had her – your – address on my desk. He must have seen it and figured out where Emma was.’

‘I _DON’T_ CARE HOOK!’ Regina shouted ‘ _I don’t care_ how she went missing; all I care about is finding her and bringing her home. And we can’t do that with you talking about how you fucked up and let her down.’

 _‘Home?’_ this is the only part that Hook could bring himself to question; he knew he had let Emma down.

‘Not the time. Just look for things. Anything of Emma’s, anything that could give us a clue where she has gone.’

Hook headed the opposite direction once more, towards the punch bag as Regina pulled drawer after drawer open, by the time she had gone through the cabinets she was holding _‘Emma’s notebook.’_ , some more photos, a sketchbook, some very old pencils and a few more books, alongside a pair of glasses. She knelt on the ground to place them in her bag and saw Emma’s cast on the ground beside her. There was blood on it. Regina’s heart lurched but she forced herself to stay calm, she zipped her bag up, swung it onto her back and then picked up the cast, she walked over to hook who had found nothing and the duo walked back up the stairs and out to the car.

They slid into the car, disappointed and angry, the drive to the Mills’ home would take nearly two hours at least and so Regina decided to read through the letters she had found, she knew it would be an invasion of Emma’s privacy but she was hoping to find a clue, anything.

She had read every letter within an hour and hadn’t found out anything besides the fact that Emma was in constant correspondence with someone called August, who would often sign off his letters as ‘your big brother’ after beginning them with _‘Hey Em’_ or _‘Hey little sis’_ Regina knew that Emma had no siblings by blood, or if she did; she didn’t know about them, so she guessed that this August was a foster sibling. She had also discovered from the various home address’ that he seemed to live in Maine and that he also seemed to travel a lot. The only letters that she hadn’t read were the ones that Emma herself had not yet opened.

Regina then flicked through the photos, some were of her in fights and the majority seemed to have Hook in them, though the annotation on the back referred to him as ‘Killian’, some were of this August Regina had read about, these were a mixture of him with Emma at various stages of their lives and some were selfies of him at different monuments in different countries, the rest of the photos – there were only about ten left – were Emma and someone only called ‘L’ on the back, the majority of these were just Emma and L but a few had hook stood alongside the duo and the final few had featured August grinning with the two girls.

Regina placed them back in her bag and then she turned to watch the streets of New York blur past her window. The Mills’ and hook pulled up to the gates that surrounded the home, Regina got out of the car and typed in the security code before returning to the car, her father drove up to the house and the trio left the car, Regina and Henry walked up the steps that led to their front door but hook, who up until now had only dreamed of being anywhere as expensive as this had stood on the paved driveway and did a slow turn.

Once he had completed his minuscule observation of the grounds that surrounded him, the trainer joined Regina and Henry on the steps, Regina lead the way into the New York mansion, Henry holding the door open for her and Hook to walk through. The two men followed the teenager into the kitchen where she turned the kettle on and drew three mugs out of a dark wood cupboard. Hook took a seat at the breakfast bar and as she turned around, Regina could tell that Hook was used to being perched at bars if his lax posture was anything to judge by. She was going to make some form of remark about the man’s posture but the kettle whistled and she turned back to the countertop behind her to fill the mugs with hot water.

‘Sugar?’ she asked Hook without turning to face him.

‘No, thanks, no milk either.’ He muttered as Henry took seat at the top of the breakfast bar.

Regina picked up two of the mugs and placed them in front of the two men before she swung herself up to sit on the countertop, the mug of coffee cradled in her hands.

‘What’s the plan now?’ she asked

‘Well, she text so we know she’s alive” Hook said as he span the mug in front of him around slowly

‘Yes, well, she text hours ago.’ Regina replied with a somewhat dangerous edge to her voice, “And since then Smee has left New York and that barman doesn’t know if Emma was with him when Smee did so for all we know Emma might not even be with him, and if she is, it’s been so long since she contacted us that SHE MIGHT NOT EVEN BE ALIVE!” The brunette shouted, slamming the mug she was holding onto the counter beside her, coffee splashed over the edge of the mug and pooled around the base, expanding towards Regina’s jeans but she didn’t notice, and if she had noticed she didn’t care. She continued glaring at Hook who hadn’t found a response to Regina.

Henry coughed and opened his mouth to speak however; it was that moment that his daughter slid off the counter and stormed upstairs, bringing the rucksack with her.

Regina sat in the centre of her bedroom, she was sitting cross-legged surrounded by photos and letters, the sketchbook was open in front of her, the front page had been titled _‘Dearest Emma – L.’_

Regina flipped through and saw that Emma was an incredibly skilled artist, portrait after portrait filled the pages, each more realistic than the last, the first quarter of the sketchbook was the 'L’ that Regina seen in photos, these portraits captivated Regina, some were clearly drawn as L sat in front of Emma, some were hand drawn copies of the photos that lay on the ground beside Regina.

Regina spent hours reading through the letters properly, she was looking for patterns or anything that could help her track down Emma. She couldn’t find anything.

Eventually she folded the letters back up and placed them neatly on her desk alongside the photos and the sketchpad.

After a while longer, she slunk back downstairs, she had decided to apologize to Hook and her father for her outburst and storming away. She could still hear them talking animatedly, even though she was certain that was nearing midnight. She walked quietly across the hallway, noticing the two men she was looking for had retired from the kitchen to the lounge, she opened the door and saw that the coffee table was scattered in notepads and a large map had been spread across the surface, her father was sitting on an arm chair, his glasses perched on his nose as he read through a pile of papers that were balanced on his lap, Hook was sitting on the floor, marking points on the map.

‘Evening’ she said as she closed the door, she strode across to the sofa behind hook and sat down, Henry looked up and smiled at his daughter

‘How are you Mija?’ He asked as Regina slid herself further back on her seat, drawing her legs up under herself.

‘Better than earlier. Actually that’s why I came back down, I’m sorry for my outburst earlier.’

‘And I thought you’d come down because of my charming aura’ Hook said jokingly as he continued his scribbles on the man.

Regina glared at the back of his head.  
  
‘What are you two doing?’ She asked  
‘We are, my dear, working out how far Smee could have gone by now, and from that we’re working out which of the places we’re left with are most likely for him to have gone.’ Henry said as he placed the stack of papers that had been on his lap onto the coffee table.

‘And what have you got?’ Regina questioned, sitting up straighter.

‘Well-‘ Hook Started ‘If its been worked out correctly, and if Smee is abiding laws on driving, He’d have driven four hours if he hasn’t already stopped. Four hours gives us approximately 225 miles. 225 miles gives us Broome County, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Boston and the North Atlantic Ocean.’

‘And?’ Regina said with a sigh, pushing for further information, desperate to save Emma.

‘Right, through contacts and everything I know about Smee, he hates Pennsylvania because of his family, never been to Maryland, the Broome County I don’t think he’s even heard off. Which leaves us with the Ocean and Boston. The idiot is sea sick and is too thick to be able to even find a boat, never mind get onto the sea, plus Emma would probably knock the shit out of him if he even tried to get her out of the country. Which leaves us with Boston because firstly it’s the only place left, secondly, he has links and ties to a bar there, thirdly, I think he has so-called friends there.’

‘Which means what?’  
  
‘It means, were going to Boston in the morning.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is probably no where near accurate geography and speed and time wise but i'm really bad at geography and ive not done any maths in more or less exactly a year so i'm sorry about that.


	12. The Intel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a chapter for all you lovely people.

It had been three weeks, there had been no real sign, no definitive trace, of Emma since the text message she had sent to Henry Mills’ phone; their trip to Boston had lasted three days and was utterly fruitless.

 Regina was constantly angry and would have outbursts of anger at any time, small things like not having enough milk in the fridge or tripping on her laces were enough to send her into fits of rage, the most recent of which had left a knuckle-sized dent in one of the living room walls of her New York home, and a wall-induced fracture in her knuckle.

She was endlessly frustrated and just wanted to find Emma; that was all she wanted to do. She scarcely spoke to her father or to Hook, who had, apparently, moved in with the Mills’ while they searched for the street fighter. Hook had links almost everywhere across America because of the underground fight network and every now and again he would sit in the middle of the living room with the map that had now been pinned to a corkboard and would place pins in all the places that people within the network believed they had sighted either the blonde or Smee. The fact that they were relying on the words of the fight network wasn’t much of a help considering most people who were at fights were drunk, drugged or had concussions, but it was enough to keep some form of trail on the believed sightings.

The trio had a hard enough time keeping track of themselves, never mind trying to track Emma due to the fact that Henry had had to return to the hospital he worked at for a few days every week and some nights Hook would stand up suddenly and declare that he was heading to his office to train someone, taking the Mercedes that had once belonged to Regina’s mother – Regina herself had no doubt that Hook was showing off, claiming that the car was his and his alone and that if his fighters trained hard they would be able to earn themselves enough money to live the life of luxury that Hook was claiming to be living.

However, whenever Hook did go down to his office he would return with more sightings of Smee or Emma and Regina would forgive him for claiming he was living in luxury even though it felt like she was living in hell – though, one time she admitted to herself albeit grudgingly, that her  life may be hell but it was hell in a very nice home – and after Hooks most recent visit to his office he had bought with him the information that Emma had been spotted in Boston once more, but she now had brown hair. When Regina argued about how his informant could be sure that it had been Emma that they had seen and not just some other female fighter, Hook promptly silenced the brunette in front of him by telling her the name of his informant – August.

Hook had followed this up with the fact that August would be coming to New York to help them find Emma, and that August’s friends would be continuing to give him information while he was away from Boston.

‘Why was he in Boston in the first place? I thought he lived in Maine?’

‘I rang him while we were there; I told him what was going on. He got there an hour before we left, we needed to keep someone there because that’s where Smee was most likely to end up even if he wasn’t there when we were.’

August arrived the next morning, the rugged beginnings of a beard on his face, whether it was on purpose or because he had just not shaved over the past few weeks, Regina wasn’t sure. His blue eyes shone as he greeted Regina and placed his rucksack on the ground beside the sofa that Hook was sitting on before sitting next to the trainer and immediately talking about the information that they had so far, including the apparent changes in Emma’s appearance.

Regina handled all but two minutes of the men pooling their information before she interrupted them with the question that had been plastered to the inside of her brain since it had first formed the night prior and had not allowed her to sleep.

‘Excuse me, gentlemen.’ She said sharply as she perched on the arm of the armchair opposite the two men. They immediately stopped talking and looked up at the teenager sat in front of them.

‘August, I get you’re here to help us to find Emma, but I have a question for you.’

‘Please, Regina, ask away.’ August replied warmly, not allowing Regina’s hostile temperament to bother him.

‘You saw Emma right?’ she asked coldly, not bothering to try to be kind to August, who in reply to Regina’s question, nodded, not taking his eyes from hers – he had been taught by the foster father who had fostered both he and Emma that eye contact was key in any situation. 

‘You got close enough to her to know that she was Emma even with the new hair colour?’

Again, August nodded.

‘Then how come you didn’t save her?’

This question, however, was one that August was ready for, he had practised his answer, and he would keep it short and sweet but truthful.

‘I got to the ring just as the match was ending – seriously,’ he said as he saw doubt cross Regina’s eyes. ‘I got ring-side as soon as she delivered the final blow of the match, I tried to shout for her but the second that they were sure that the guy wasn’t going to get back up and that Emma had won she was dragged out of the ring, actually dragged.’  
  
Suddenly short and sweet wasn’t really important to him, the entire truth was.

‘I followed them, her and the guy – I doubt it was Smee, he was too sober to be that rat – into the alley. I stuck to the shadows, hoping for a chance to reach her, to get her and run, you know? To get her out of there. To save her – as you put it. But there wasn’t one. There wasn’t a chance. She saw me. As he went to throw her into the car. She tried to make a break for it but I could tell she’d tried this often now – he knew exactly where to grab her to keep her still. She must have injured her arm because that was the first place he grabbed and she screamed. She screamed and she swore and she kept staring at me. Probably begging me to help her silently. But I didn’t because I was scared and I froze. The worst part of it was-‘he paused then, just for a moment, it would have been unnoticeable if Regina hadn’t been watching him intently ‘She looked defeated. I’ve never seen her look defeated before – not even when we were kids.’

Regina’s heart sunk in her chest, if Emma looked defeated it meant she was giving up and the second she gave up Regina knew that Emma would be discarded by Smee, he’d probably kill her.

Regina’s mind split in two for a moment arguing between whether she should just go up to Boston immediately and figure out what to do once she was there or sit down with the men in front of her and help them to create a rational plan that might succeed, she moved half a millimetre, about to grab the car keys that Hook had left on the coffee table but as soon as she started to move she stopped and stayed still.

‘So, lads, what’s the plan?’

The two men looked at her once more, wearing identical smiles and then began to fill her in on the plan they had begun to outline.

‘Well, I have details of the place Smee is staying in…’

‘But we think that Emma is being kept in a separate place a few blocks away…’

‘But a few of the fighters have said they’ve seen them together here…’

The men spoke, punctuating their sentences with pins being placed in the map or notes being written on post it’s and stuck the edges of the corkboard.

Eventually a plan was formed on sheets of paper in the messy handwriting's of a traveller and a trainer and all that was left to do was execute it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize again for the irregular updates.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter and thank you all for sticking with the story so far.


	13. The Warehouse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so sorry that this has taken more than a month to post.  
> Life got in the way, life and writer's block, especially when I decided to take this story in a completely different route to how it was intended to go. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for sticking with me, it means so much to me.
> 
> This chapter was originally surplus of three thousand words but I've split it into three chapters that will be posted over the next day or two.
> 
> I hope you're all well.

Regina was sitting in her car, parked outside of some warehouse in Boston. Hook was standing outside the back of the warehouse. Twelve blocks away August was parked outside a bar, he had car shared with Hook because they needed the least cars they could take but still have means to escape from both the bar and the warehouse quickly. Henry was in New York still, he’d been put on orders to open the gates to the estate as soon as Regina called, because they were working on the assumption that Smee wouldn’t let Emma go easily and would chase them. Also, if Henry was caught aiding what was, in essence, an abduction, he would lose his job and so Regina was adamant that he was to man the gates at the house. The trio were expecting a high speed chase, with a chance of being ran off-road and so they were hoping that they could speed past the gates, with Emma, and they were resting their hopes on the fact that the gates would be shut before Smee could get to them.   
  
Their plan was actually incredibly simple, when they ignored the fact that they were trying to kidnap Emma from her kidnapper and that there would be conflict at one point or another; August would go into the bar because Smee has never seen him before – August would just be another customer, who would sneak downstairs and look for Emma.  Hook would scout the back of the warehouse and then, if it was safe, he would call Regina and have her come in. If August didn’t find Emma, he’d come to the warehouse and help Regina and Hook. And If he did, he’d grab her and run and call Regina and Hook on his way up.

In hindsight; it was a flawed plan.

In hindsight; the plan should never have worked, not even a little bit.

Hook and Regina both received a text from August, informing them that he would be entering the bar as soon as they both replied to confirm that they were ready to go into action. Both of them replied at exactly the same time, though, with a warehouse and possibly a teenage fighter between them, they weren’t aware of this fact.

Regina drummed her fingers with more speed and force than she had been prior to August’s text while she waited for another text message, the longer she was waiting for a text, the faster and louder the tapping became, after a couple of minutes her fingers became nothing but blurs against the steering wheel.

She was so focused on the blur of her fingers that she nearly didn’t see her phone flash with two text messages.

 _‘In. No Emma. Comin 2 warehouse_.’ From August

‘ _Clear. Help find em.’_ From Hook.

At that, Regina slid out of the car and rushed around to the back of the warehouse, creeping through the door because although Hook had said that the warehouse was clear, the feeling that something bad was going to happen had begun to creep into her bones, she continued down the stairs to where she thought Hook would be, unable to shake the feeling that something was about to go wrong. 

The further she got into the warehouse, the darker it became, until she had to use the dim light from her phone screen to light her path to Hook.

‘Hook?’ she whispered into the room

‘Hook?’ she tried again.

‘ _Killian_!’

‘ _What?_!’ was the reply of the man Regina had been looking for.

‘Where the bloody hell are you?’ she asked, in a normal tone of voice.

Using the flashlight, he had carried with him, Hook lit the way from Regina to him.

‘Now what?’ She whispered.

‘we keep looking.’ He said as if it was the simplest thing in the world, handing her a spare flashlight.

She accepted the flashlight and turned, the two of them back to back, looking for Emma. Every so often she or Hook would punctuate their footsteps with whispered ‘Emma!’s or ‘Swan!’s

After ten minutes of looking the duo met once more in the centre of the room and contemplated leaving, surely if Emma was here they’d have found her by now.

However, standing still, with no footsteps and no hushed shouts echoing through the room they heard it – from somewhere beneath them they heard footsteps and, as Regina dropped to the floor, she heard her own name

‘’Gina? Gina is that you?’

‘ _Hook_! It’s her. She’s under the floor.’

Hook, too, dropped to the ground and he and Regina began searching for a way to get beneath the floor to find Emma, crawling around the floor in separate directions, looking for something – anything – that would lead them beneath the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All Kudos and Comments are appreciated, and I'll reply to all comments.
> 
> Again, thank you all for sticking with me and putting up with my lack of regular updates; it really does mean a lot to me.


	14. The Violence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is essentially Chapter 13, Part Two.

In their hunt for the way beneath the floor, they didn’t hear the footsteps coming down the stairs towards them. Nor did they hear the sound of someone being dragged along.

The moment the duo on the realised that they weren’t the only ones in the warehouse – besides Emma, of course – was a moment too late; the warehouse had been lit up, lights glowing from the bulbs that hadn’t been smashed.

By the time Hook looked up, a boot was half a centimetre away from having impact with his nose, He didn’t get a chance to figure out who was stood in front of him because, perhaps inevitably, the boot collided with his face.

Regina slid silently from her knees and crouched on her haunches as Hook was thrown across the floor, blood already spilling from his nose and mouth, she wouldn’t be surprised if his teeth had been kicked loose with the force of the impact.

She felt her breathing pick up ten-fold, her chest felt like it was being compressed and her throat feeling as if it was being filled with reinforced concrete.

 _‘Not, now’_ she thought to herself _‘Please, not now.’_

As another kick was delivered swiftly to Hooks chest, causing a horrible cracking noise to filter through the air, Regina began to count to ten.

_‘1, and 2, and 3, and 4, and…’_

As she counted she looked around at the people who were in the room, wondering – between the numbers that were filling her head - why she wasn’t being attacked by whoever were in here.

She recognised none of the men, there were three, no, four of them. Two of them towered well over six foot, dwarfing Regina, and they were both incredibly muscular. The man who was kicking Hook was smaller and stockier than the first two, Regina decided that if the two of them – she and the man - ever stood side by side, she would be the taller one, not by much, but definitely taller. As she took a deep breath of the stagnant air of the room, she realised that instead of just damp, the air was also filled with alcohol fumes. She realised the man in the boots was Smee.

She looked at the fourth man, the best she could at least – he was blocked from her sight by the giants that stood either side of him. She could tell that he was probably a foot taller than she, and neither stocky or overtly muscular like the three other men he was with. He was muscular, she could tell, but looked nothing like the first two men.

She wished that August would hurry and get to the warehouse, at least that way it wouldn’t be just her against these four men, because if the state of Hook – curled up on himself, bleeding heavily from his face, already bruising and groaning in pain -  was anything to go by she would be killed.

She didn’t know if the four men were aware that she was in the room as they hadn’t even looked her way, but at the same time, she thought that they must know she was there as she was only a mere ten foot behind them. Additionally, she was stood opposite the stairs; they must have seen her when they walked in.

She stood up quietly, testing the situation, and took a step forwards.

The two giants turned and began to walk slowly towards Regina.

She saw the fourth man drop to the ground when the giants turned but she hadn’t had time to question it as the men got closer to her, stopping about five feet away.

‘You, _darlin_ ’; You gon’ stay exactly where you are. A’ight?’  The one on the left, the bigger of the two, stated in a growl.

All she could do was nod.

‘Nah darlin’ a little head shake aint gon’ do the trick. I asked you a ques’ion and I ‘pect you to answer it. A’ight?’

‘Y-Yes.’ Regina stuttered out.

‘Good girl.’ He said in response, his voice guttural.

Regina decided her best option was to look at the ground and try to control her breathing.

It was then she saw it – one of the boards on the ground had been doubled up, making what looked like a handle, and forming a perimeter around it, was a square, about three foot wide and three foot long. She had found the way to Emma. And it was half a foot from the giant on the rights foot.

Noticing that Regina was staring at one section of the floor, the giants began to walk closer to Regina once more but stopped when there was a bang.

A loud bang.

Regina looked over to where she thought the source of the noise was, though she couldn’t be sure because the noise had caused her ears to ring. She looked over just in time to see Smee drop to the ground with blood spraying from his leg.

‘The bastard has a gun!’ Smee shouted to nobody in particular. The two men turned from Regina and began to advance to where Smee was on the ground, clutching his leg.

‘Regina get the fuck out of here!’ was shouted across the room by Hook.

She knew he was right, she knew she should flee the room, but she knew that Emma was here, and she refused to leave without her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for sticking about and reading this chapter :)
> 
> kudos and comments are always appreciated and comments are always replied to.


	15. The Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final part of chapter 13, though not the final chapter of the story :)

She sprinted to the handle on the ground, dropping to her knees and tugged at it. After what felt like forever, though was really only a minute and two gun shots later, the board, and the square, came free and Regina threw them to her side.

‘Emma! Emma! Where the hell are you?’ She shouted into the hole in the ground.

‘Gi? Is that you?’ a weak voice shouted back.

‘Yes! Will you hurry up please?! They’re going to shoot us!’ Regina shouted frantically into the darkness beneath her.

Regina heard footsteps and what could only have been the blonde jumping, then saw Emma’s hands grasp the edges of the flooring, instead of pulling up, Emma’s hands started to slip back towards the darkness.

‘I can’t get up!’ Emma shouted ‘My arm isn’t strong enough to pull me up’

Regina leant forwards, as quickly as she could, trying to ignore the shouting and gun shots only feet away, and grabbed Emma’s wrists.

She pulled with all her effort, and Emma began to emerge from the hole in the ground. Regina was so desperate to get Emma up, and get them both out of the room without being hit by a stray bullet that she didn’t notice how severely battered and broken Emma was.

Emma swung her legs over the edge of the gap and used Regina to pull herself up to her feet. The duo began running, Emma didn’t know what enabled her to run the way that she was, as for the last week she had barely been able to stand, never mind run, as she and Regina reached the stairs she decided it was her need to be free once more that caused her to run. It would only be later that night that she would realise she was able to run because she wanted to be with Regina.

Regina ran, with Emma to her left, trying to shield the fighter as best she could from any stray bullets, she ran behind Emma when they reached the stairs, determined that if the men were to follow her and Emma, they would have to get through her to get to Emma.

The two burst through the door of the warehouse, Regina reached for Emma’s hand and clasped hers around the blondes, leading her to the car that was parked on the corner as they ran. She was thankful that she had left the car unlocked as she threw open passenger door and damn near threw Emma into the passenger seat before she ran to her own side of the car and started the car, she sped off and as fast and as far as she could, once she deemed they were not being followed, she slowed down a bit, allowing her to ring her father to get him to open the gates to the mansion, informing him to stay inside the mansion even when the gates were shut. She just didn’t want him to come rushing out and see her having yet another panic attack, she knew he’d baby her.

She slowed down further as she neared the mansion gates, she drove up to the house, watching the gates close in the mirror, pulled up, and stopped the car.

Finally, she allowed the situation to consume her, she felt tears run down her face as she felt the constriction of her chest once more. She clenched her eyes shut as she calmed her breathing, though that was proving hard as all she could think about was the fact August was AWOL, that Hook was on the ground, with a gun, and that if the men hadn’t already found that Emma was missing, it would only be a matter of minutes until they did.

They would realise that Emma was with Regina.

Emma was with Regina.

Regina opened her eyes to confirm this, she needed to make sure that this wasn’t some mental dream.

She saw Emma sitting there in the passenger seat of her car, looking from the wing mirror to look at Regina as they both calmed their breathing down.

Emma, who was breathing heavily from the running still, had watched as Regina had stopped the car and almost immediately closed in on herself, breathing quickly and forehead creased as she cried, she saw the way Regina sucked in her cheeks as she breathed through her nose, probably biting them. Emma pinned the behaviour to a panic attack and, from her own experience, deducted that it would be best if she didn’t say anything to Regina until the brunette had her eyes open, at least. She thought that if Regina was anything like herself, the brunette wouldn’t want to be greeted with the fact that someone had been staring at her while she was having a panic attack, and so she looked at the wing mirror on Regina’s side of the car, watching Regina’s reflection, waiting for the brunette to open her eyes.

Once Regina had opened her eyes Emma gave it a moment before meeting Regina’s eyes and another moment before speaking.

‘That was the first time you’ve held my hand; you know?’ Emma stated with a small smile, trying to lighten the mood.

‘So it was.’ Regina replied, a genuine smile pulling at her lips for the first time since Emma went missing all those weeks ago.

‘We’re like the world’s most reverse couple.’ The blonde continued, smiling all the more.

‘Is that right?’ Regina said, liking the way that this conversation appeared to be going.

‘Yep,’ Emma started, popping the ‘P’                                                                    

  
‘Do enlighten me, dear.’ Regina said, her eyes beginning to sparkle with the smile on her face.

‘You see, you saved me from death, which Is a pretty solid ‘I’m gonna save you cause I love you’-couple-y thing to do, right? And then we lived together, which is definitely a couple thing to do, and I met your family, and then you offered to have me live with you, which I know I already was but that’s another reverse thing, proves my point, you see? We lived together and while we were living together you asked if I wanted to live with you. AND THEN I told you I liked you an-’

‘actually dear, I believe you told me that you knew that I liked you and then you told me you like me.’ Regina said.

‘I suppose you’re right,’ Emma conceded ‘AND THEN-’Emma said loudly and strained for effect, wanting Regina to continue smiling ‘You saved me again – thanks for that by the way, it means a lot that you were willing to do that for me,’ The blonde said softly, slightly embarrassed at the confession and the blush she was certain was colouring her cheeks, though, she was also certain she was bruised and dirty enough that the blush couldn’t be seen.

‘I’m always willing to save you, Emma.’ Regina whispered.

‘I hope you won’t have to save me again, I think it’s my turn to save you, anyways, back to my point-’ A cheeky grin spread across the blondes face.

‘So you saved me again, and then you held my hand, which, let’s face it, is very much the basic ‘I like you’ beginning of a couple thing to do, and now we’re here.’

‘And now were here.’ Regina agreed.

She looked at Emma, properly for the first time since they’d left the warehouse, Regina saw how bruised and bloodied Emma’s face was, she saw the blondes nose wasn’t the same shape it was when she was taken; it was slightly crooked but, somehow, Emma managed to pull off a slightly crooked nose and make it look completely and utterly beautiful. Regina saw the beginnings of scars on Emma’s brow bone and chin, and thanks to the torn tank top that Emma was wearing, Regina saw a series of bruises that crept along the blonde’s jaw bone and down her neck and along her collar bones and shoulders, some new purples and blues, others faded greens and yellows.

She saw that Emma’s arms were mottled with cuts and bruises, scars and blood blisters and that Emma’s knuckles were so badly cut that there was no way that they wouldn’t scar deeply.

Her heart ached for the girl sitting in her passenger seat and all she wanted to do was wrap her up and make her better and keep her from the dangers of the world.

She leant forward from her seat, and gently pushed a strand of blonde hair behind Emma’s ear, which was also damaged. Regina let her hand linger on the side of Emma’s face. Their eyes locked. Regina knew that Emma’s eyes were incredibly green, and she knew how easily she could be lost in the eyes that stared back at her from their little adventure to the gardens an age ago, but somehow, Emma’s eyes seemed so much more green, held so much more depth than they had done before, if Regina was lost in Emma’s eyes, she never wanted to be found.

‘So what,’ Regina’s voice came out as a whisper, ‘do you suggest comes next as the world’s most reverse couple?’

‘This,’ Emma’s response was barely audible as the girl leant forward to close the gap between the two of them, their lips meeting and eyes closing.

Regina was surprised by how soft Emma’s lips were, she thought they wouldn’t be soft from the amount of times Emma had had her lips split in fights but, goodness, she was wrong. Regina let her hand slip from the side of Emma’s head to the back of her neck and gently pulled her as close as she could without Emma falling off her seat and hitting the gear stick.

Emma could feel Regina smile against her lips, she wrapped the arm that hadn’t been broken around Regina’s waist, knowing that if she used her other arm she’d cry out in pain and ruin the moment.

_And what a moment it was._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are, as always, appreciated and i'll reply to your comments.
> 
> Also, I'm going to barcelona for a week at the end of this week so if I dont update before I leave, I might not be able to update next week but I promise that I wont dissapear for six weeks between chapters again.   
> (If its more than the fortnight it should be, feel free to come to my house and deck me :) )
> 
> Thanks for sticking about, it means a lot.


	16. The Smiles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took more than the two weeks it was meant to take. Life got in the way of everything once more and now i'm behind in college and a friend of mine may or may not be dead and I have no means to find out, so I am really, genuinely sorry that this took so long to post but i'm hoping you all understand why.

 

When the need for air finally outweighed the need for their lips to explore one another’s, the duo pulled appear, foreheads touching as they drew oxygen back into their bloodstreams. It was Emma who opened her eyed first, smiling softly at the fact that she had finally kissed Regina Mills. 

A second or two later Regina opened her eyes, watching as Emma closed her eyes briefly, the blonde’s smile getting wider as Regina slid her hand over Emma’s arm, lowering her hand from Emma’s neck to her hand, clasping the blondes hand once more, cautiously being gentle, for fear she would accidently apply pressure on one of the many bruises that covered Emma’s arms, not wanting to cause her pain.

They sat there for a while longer, all sensitive touches and longing stares at one another’s eyes, broken only by brief glances at each other’s lips before eventually, they fell into another tender kiss, gently tangling hands in hair.

It was only when Emma drew herself that close to Regina that she nearly did fall off her seat that they pulled away once more.

Holding hands with Regina once more, Emma slid herself away from the edge of the seat and turned back to face out of the windscreen so that she could try to ease some of the burning in her left leg, as it was beginning to become unbearable. She felt circles being traced onto the back of her hand by Regina’s thumb and enjoyed the comfort she was finding from the small movement. A smile painted itself on her face as she gazed out of the window.

Regina too, looked out of the windscreen, feeling happier than she had done in a very long time.

The duo stayed in the car, happy in the comfortable silence, hands linked beside the gearstick, every now and again they would find the other staring at them, only for them to look away quickly as if they had just been caught doing something illicit.

They only moved when Regina caught a glimpse of her father walking towards the car in the mirror.

‘Emma,’ she whispered, unable to make her voice sturdy

‘Yes, ‘Gina’ Emma replied, her voice alike, turning once more to face Regina

‘My father’s walking towards us.’

‘Well, we have been here for nearly forty minutes, Gina.’ Emma said, her voice soft ‘my bet is he’s worried about you, you did just raid a warehouse.’ She continued, her smile quirking into a grin, and mischief making her eyes sparkle a little.

Regina could only smile in response because it was just so nice to have Emma back. Emma who made quips about everything. Emma who could throw a sexual innuendo into any conversation just by raising an eyebrow. Emma who was rambunctious and bold. Emma whose lips were soft. Emma who kisses in cars. Her Emma.

As Henry got closer to the car, Regina quickly leant over to Emma and gave the blonde a chaste kiss.

'What was that for?' Emma asked, still grinning.

'Does there have to be a reason?' Regina replied, the undertone of her voice was almost teasing but there were layers of emotion above it.

Emma shook her head slowly 'I guess not.'

The two remained in the car until Henry reached them, Regina stepped out of the car to hug her father, he held her tightly.

'Thank god you're okay, Mija.' He said as he held his daughter 'You are okay aren't you?' he asked as he pulled away slightly and examined his daughter's face in the sunlight for any damage.

Regina gave a soft laugh 'Yes Papa, I'm okay.'

'Did you get Emma?' Henry asked as he pulled his daughter close once more.

'She did.' Emma answered, leaning against the car as she stood up, Smiling gleefully at the sight of Regina and her father.

Regina pulled herself out of her father's embrace and walked over to Emma, Henry quickly followed and pulled Emma into a brief hug before he pulled away, 'And you, Emma? Are you okay?' he asked, taking in the bruises on her face and thinking to himself that if she answered with 'I’m fine' that he would end up pulling what little he had left of his hair out.

'Battered and bruised, sir, a little worse for wear if I'm being honest but besides that I’m grand.'

Regina smiled at the fact that Emma wasn't trying to hide her injuries this time.

'I'm sure we can get you sorted, Emma. Why don't we all go inside?'

 

 

That evening, after Henry had recast Emma’s arm and had looked at the rest of the teenager’s injuries and the girls had filled Henry in on what had happened in the warehouse and why Hook and August weren’t with them, the two girls were in the dining room alone while Henry was making some ‘incredibly important phone calls’.

‘ _Regina_ ,’ Emma whined

‘Yes, dear?’ Regina replied, smiling

‘Damn, I love it when you call me dear.’

‘Is that all you wanted Em?’

‘No, I’m sorry to be a pain in the arse but I need to sit somewhere softer this is bloody killing my back.’

‘You’re _not_ a pain in the arse Em, let’s sit in the lounge.’ She said as she placed their pizza and drinks on a tray and then wrapped her free arm around Emma’s waist and pulled her close, partly to support her as she walked and partly because she just wanted the blonde close to her.

Regina led Emma into the lounge and helped Emma sit on the sofa; now that the blonde didn’t have adrenaline pulsing through her veins, her injuries had become much more obvious and she was in a ridiculous amount of pain. Regina wouldn’t be surprised if Emma slept for the next three days like she had done the first time they’d met.

She turned around to place their food on the coffee table but saw that the map and all the research they had been using to track Emma was still splayed across the table top so, instead, she placed the tray on the sofa and sat on the other side of it. Emma looked at the coffee table and saw the map with many pins sticking out of it with string and post its and photos stuck to it.

‘what’s this?’ Emma asked, groaning as she leant forwards, getting closer to the map.

Regina placed her hand on Emma’s back to stop her moving forward and instead she pulled the coffee table closer to them both. ‘It’s how we found you. I didn’t do much but my father and Hook and August figured out all the miles and locations and whatever to pinpoint you to the warehouse.

Emma was reading all the notes attached to the map and gave a laugh at one of the post-it’s that had been stuck to the pin that had been stuck over Boston.

‘What’s so funny, Em?’ Regina asked

‘Why does Boston have the note _‘Fuckin August. Fuckin Shit. Brown hair?! **Brown Hair?!!!’**_ stuck to it? Like I know that that was the night that August cocked up but what about the rest of it? _Also isn’t that your handwriting?’_

Regina smiled ‘Yeah, it is. He told me he’d failed getting you and I got angsty with him. Spent two days calling him shit. And brown hair because he’d told us that you had brown hair.’

‘oh yeah. Smee pinned this brunette wig to me for like a week.’ Emma replied, moving some of her hair from the side of her face where, along her hairline, beneath the bruises, Regina could see pin marks. ‘Changed my appearance and punished me, two birds one stone as he told me.’

Regina could feel herself getting angry about it all again, that Emma had been tortured in such a way.

‘Hey, hey, ‘Gi, calm down, it’s okay, I’m here now, it’s okay.’ Emma whispered, her hand on Regina’s back, trying to defuse the brunette as she had seen her physically tense up when she’d shown Regina the scars from the wig.

‘I’m here now, that’s all that matters. Tomorrow, we’ll think about Killian and August. But for now, I’m here and that’s good. Okay?’

Regina nodded, annoyed at herself that shed somehow managed to end up being the one who was being comforted when its Emma who’d been tortured and it was Emma who had left two people who were the closest thing to family she had in the warehouse or wherever the hell august went.

Regina placed the pizza on the arm of the sofa and leant over, pulling Emma into another gentle kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I'm sorry that this took so long to update. Thanks everyone who comments and kudos, I appreciate all of them. 
> 
> Much love, Sam.
> 
>  
> 
> This chapter is dedicated to N, I miss you calling me evil for all my cliffhangers in this. I hope you're alive and I hope you're okay.


	17. The Tshirt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im sorry this chapter took so long to get up, but to make up for it this chapter is longer than the rest.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it :)
> 
> -Sam

Emma woke the next morning after a fitful sleep. She’d woken up at least twice an hour, thinking that it was a dream, that she hadn’t been saved by Regina. She was always comforted by Regina who would still be awake and would hold Emma just that little bit tighter, tight enough for Emma to feel safe but not tight enough to add pressure onto the bruises that littered Emma’s body. Emma would press herself against Regina who was whispering ‘its okay’s, ‘don’t worry’s and ‘you’re safe’s into the blonde’s hair as Emma would drift off once more.

When she woke she moved closer to Regina once more, soaking in the warmth and the safety that was radiating from the sleeping brunette, Emma lay awake, listening to Regina breathing, feeling the rise and fall of Regina’s chest beneath her arm.  
Regina woke nearly an hour later when her father came in to wake the duo up for breakfast. Henry had knocked on the door and upon receiving no response from the other side of it, he had walked into the room and called Regina’s name softly, when he heard a mumbled ‘good morning, Papa.’ He left the girls to wake up properly. He realised as he walked out of the bedroom that he wasn’t even the slightest bit surprised to see them cuddled together.

Regina was slow to wake up properly, she was more than happy to be lying next to Emma and didn’t want to move. However, she could smell bacon and some pastries that were freshly baked, she tried to ignore the smell but her stomach couldn’t and the traitor gave a loud growl which was enough to make her wake up slightly and for Emma to burst out laughing.

‘Wakey wakey sleepy’ Emma said softly once her laugher had died down due to the pain that shot through her chest. Regina mumbled something incoherent in reply, Emma thought that the mumbling sounded like ‘Five more minutes’ and so she lay there still, being held in Regina’s arms, thinking that this is one thing in life that she could get used to. 

They lay there for a while longer, though after Regina’s stomach growled again, the duo pulled away from each other, Emma mourning the loss of the feeling of security as Regina left the bed to find some clothes in the wardrobe opposite the bed as Regina searched for clothes, Emma slowly sat up, every part of her hurting though she refused to make any noise as she didn’t want the brunette to know just how much pain she was in. Regina pulled out an oversized tour shirt and a pair of tracksuit bottoms and passed them to Emma making a comment about how Emma didn’t have to hide her pain from her as she did so. Regina took her outfit of jeans and a shirt and got changed in the en-suite as Emma struggled to change out of the pyjama bottoms she had been given the night prior due to her broken rib. Once she had succeeded in changing trousers she took a moment to look at the tshirt, chuckling to herself as she read it. She slipped it over her head, and managed – by the grace of god – to get it over her broken arm that Henry had recast after dinner the night before.  
Regina re-entered the room and Emma and focus on keeping her mouth shut Regina looked that beautiful, even if she was just wearing some old jeans and a tshirt.  
‘Is something wrong, Em?’ Regina asked, concern laced through her voice, worried that the look on Emma’s face was because the blonde was in pain.  
‘No, no, I just... I just didn’t take you to be a One Direction fan is all.’ She said grinning, gesturing at the faded faces of the boyband from where the shirt had been washed so often.  
‘What? Don’t judge!’ Regina said laughing ‘I can’t help it! They’re pretty good! Who did you think I listened to then?’ She asked, her eyes shining with laughter  
‘I’m not judging! I just thought you’d be more Mozart and Beethoven and Einaudi.’  
‘Though I do like classical, I’m more boybands and Rock music.’ Regina admitted, as she sat on the edge of the bed.  
‘Ooh, Rock music? I definitely didn’t have you down for that, who do you listen to?’  
The duo sat talking, comparing the music they liked – they had an incredibly similar taste in music, though there were some indie bands that Emma promised to show Regina and a few early punk bands that Emma had heard of but never listened to that Regina had promised to show Emma. It was only during their argument over whether Lana Del Rays or Modern Space’s version of High by the beach was better when Regina’s stomach growled once more, causing Emma to laugh again, that they remembered that they were both hungry.  
Regina helped Emma downstairs, her arm linked around the blonde’s waist once more. They both sat at the table, Regina giving Henry a kiss on the cheek before she sat down with a ‘Good Morning, Papa.’  
The trio sat, drinking coffee and juice, talking about how Hook had pulled a gun and August hadn’t been seen at the warehouse. They stayed at the table talking for the best part of an hour.

There were no big plans of sneaking into warehouses or arming themselves, frankly because none of them were willing to put any of the others at risk. Whenever one of them offered to go into the warehouse to see if Hook was still there the other two would refuse; when Emma had her two minutes of ‘I will go into the warehouse! I’ll kill Smee myself if I have to!’ along with other variations of those two lines, Henry had threated to use plaster of Paris to stick her to her chair. She relented after that.

They broke away from the conversation when it stopped being suggestions and partially empty threats and instead became a constant loop of one member of the trio suggesting they go to look for Hook and August and the other two point blank refusing. After Regina slammed her hands on the table out of frustration and Emma had lapsed into a silence that was beginning to weep anger into the room, Henry stood up, made them another mug of coffee each and then told the girls to sit outside in the garden. 

The duo exchanged glances but after a moment they complied and Regina helped Emma into the garden before returning for their coffees. She and Emma sat on a bench besides the house, it wasn't unlike the bench they had first sat on together back in Maine, Emma took in her surroundings, it was nothing like the land they had sat on in Maine with the acres upon acres of land that encased a lake but it was still a vast amount of land filled with flowers that went on further than the horizon. Emma leant forwards a little, Regina couldn’t decide whether Emma was alleviating pain or if the blonde was so engrossed in trying to find the end of the garden that she had leant forward without realising. Instead of turning back to the garden in front of her Regina sat looking at Emma. She was memorising every line of Emma that she could see. Every shade of yellow, green and blue that coloured the majority of Emma’s face and neck. The purple that painted Emma’s collar bone. The light scar that Regina hadn’t noticed earlier ran along Emma’s left jawline from her temple to the into the corner of her nostril. The split lip and the pin marks that dotted the blonde’s hairline. The shining emerald eyes that had sparked, captivating Regina that first time the duo had sat outside together. The eyelashes that were incredibly long but nearly invisible because of how pale they were. The hollow of her cheek. The dimple that appeared when Emma smiled like she did now as she looked out over the garden. 

‘You okay?’ Emma whispered, her eyes still trained on the garden in front of her, the only indication that Emma was talking to Regina and not the flowers was that her hand moved across the bench and laced her fingers around Regina’s.  
‘Yeah’ Regina said softly, still not tearing her gaze away from Emma. ‘Are you?’  
Emma nodded slowly, it wasn’t a lie. She was okay. She was. But it wasn’t the complete truth either.  
‘You’re worried about Hook and August.’ Regina commented. It wasn’t a question.  
Once more Emma nodded slowly.  
‘We’ll find them’ Regina whispered, gently holding Emma’s hand a little tighter.  
‘We will.’ Emma agreed. 

Regina moved closer to Emma, the two of them sat hip to hip, their coffees left on the bench beside them, Emma rested her head on Regina’s shoulder, comfortable in the safety that Regina’s presence gave to her.

It was an hour later before anybody spoke again, both had sat content in the silence and the warm sunshine. 

Henry had interrupted the silence when he had come outside and sat beside Regina on the bench. 

‘Killian-’ the elder started ‘Killian is in the lounge.’

Both girls looked at him unable to say anything. 

‘And August?’ Emma finally forced out 

‘Killian will tell you.’ Henry replied, standing up and walking to the backdoor before stopping to watch his daughter help Emma stand and walk over to Henry who was now holding the door open for Regina and Emma. The second that Killian laid eyes on Emma he stood up and walked over to her, wrapping her in his arms, holding his best fighter, his little sister, as tight as he could before she whimpered in pain. 

‘Man, I’ve missed you Swan.’  
‘I’ve missed you too, Hook.’

Killian took in the damage that was evident on Emma’s face.

‘I should have killed the bastard when I had the chance.’ He grumbled.

‘So he’s in the hospital?’ Regina asked, perched on the sofa opposite the armchair Killian was sitting on, her fingers interlocked with Emma’s. 

‘Aye, he’s been in there since yesterday.’

‘Because he got the daylight kicked out of him?’ 

‘Aye.’

‘Because he was in the warehouse all along?’

Killian made a noise that sounded like agreement.

‘What an idiot.’ Emma sighed, rubbing her forehead with the part of her hand that wasn’t in cast. 

Regina had sat silently as Hook had told the tale of how it turned out that the man who had dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes the day before was a barely conscious August who had decided to come-to as Hook was on the floor shooting at Smee and had overestimated the strength he possessed and in an effort to tackle Smee to the floor he had ended up falling once more and was kicked to a pulp by the two men who had squared up to Regina.

Hook had caught Smee with another bullet and it had caused Smee to make the men stop attacking August. Hook had stood up and threw some threats around about how if Smee came after Emma again or if he told the police who had shot him then he would tell the police about how Smee had kidnapped and abused Emma and that he would make sure that everyone’s stories aligned to make sure that it sounded like Emma was just a kid who was kidnapped from her foster home years ago and made to fight by Smee. In the detail that Killian was explaining his threats it seemed that if the situation arose that the police would end up being fed the story that Smee had kidnapped Emma, it would be a pretty airtight story that would almost definitely make Smee look like the bad guy. Not that he wasn’t the bad guy in the first place. It made Regina wonder how long Killian had been plotting this.

It had resulted in Smee deciding that Emma was worth too much hassle and that no amount of money was worth being shot at for and had conceded to leave Emma alone. Just for good measure Killian shot Smee’s foot. Killian had left the gun in the warehouse and helped August get out of the warehouse and onto the sidewalk before he rang an ambulance. He hung around until August regained consciousness that morning had fed August some form of an alibi about being jumped by some strangers. 

It turned out that August had been about as subtle as a neon sign when he had gone into the bar and had just straight up asked is Emma was there and had tried to fight the bartender which had resulted in the security dragging him out the back door and kicking the shit out of him and then dragging him to the warehouse just to make sure he didn’t try to run or get the police. 

‘So do you really think that that’s the last that we’ll hear from Smee?’ Regina asked.  
‘Yep.’  
‘And what makes you so sure?’ Emma questioned, an eyebrow arching.  
‘I’ve already shot the bastard three times. I told him that I’ll aim for his thick head if he comes back.’

 

The four of them were sat in the lounge hours later, Emma asleep, curled into Regina’s side once more when the take away they had ordered arrived at the gate. Henry left the room to open the gate and waited outside to collect the food from the delivery driver.

Emma sat up, groaning a little at the knot of tension that sat on her spine as she did. Regina instinctively placed a hand at the base of Emma’s spine and began rubbing small circles, feeling Emma’s muscles relax as she did so. 

‘Look at you two, teenagers back in each other’s arms for barely twenty-four hours and already acting like a couple that’s been married for ten years. All back massages and sleeping on each other. You’re even sharing clothes. It’s kinda gross, lasses.’ Killian said with a grin. 

‘Oh shut up. You’re jealous at the fact that I got a gorgeous girl and you haven’t even bought a girl a drink in two years.’ Emma quipped back her voice clouded with sleep yet surprisingly witty for someone who had just woken up.

Killian just laughed, he never thought he’d see the day where he’d be happy to have Emma insulting his love life but here it was. It felt good. 

Henry returned with the food and everyone dived it, splitting food between them, sharing dishes and making comments on one another’s choices of food.

‘I can’t believe that you’re wearing a One Direction shirt, Swan.’

‘Shut up.’ Emma said grinning ‘They’re pretty good.’

‘Whatever you say, boss.’ Killian said, smiling.

Emma pouted jokingly before she put her plate on the coffee table and then leant into Regina’s side, taking her hand once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All comments and Kudos are always appreciated and I'll reply to all comments :)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'm sorry it took so long to get up.
> 
> \- I have a twitter specifically for my writing now @Jace_M_Writing (using my psued for that because my family already stalks my personal, i don't need them stalking my writing account too)
> 
> Also, for those of you who were asking about my friend i mentioned in last chapter's notes - she's back and seems okay :)


	18. The Daylight

‘Emma,’ Regina whispered into the darkness.

‘Yeah Gina?’ Emma replied, her voice tired but not sleepy.

It was four in the morning and neither girl had slept yet, they had spent the last few hours cuddling, Regina holding Emma as she listened to the girl breathe. She was watching the way that Emma’s chest moved with every breath, and was observing the way that the blonde hair fanned across the pillows was much darker, almost brown, due to the fact that Emma had asked Regina to keep the light on that night, though now the light was unnecessary as the light of a new day was beginning to filter through the window. Unlike the night before when they had the exhaustion of the warehouse causing them to fall asleep, tonight the most exhausting thing that had happened was that Hook had turned up and so the girls were awake, silently thinking about everything that had happened. Regina was worried that if she fell asleep Emma wouldn’t be there when she woke up and Emma was frustrated and terrified - frustrated that the one person in the world who had been with her as she’d grown up was in hospital and she could go and see him for fear that she’d end up back in care, especially since the injuries she had wouldn’t go unquestioned And terrified that if she fell asleep flash backs from when Smee had kidnapped her would fill her dreams.

‘I’ve got something to show you.’

‘Do you now?’ Emma said, arching her eyebrow in a jokingly suggestive way causing Regina to laugh.

‘Not like that.’ Regina chastised with a smirk before her face dropped into a slightly more serious expression.

She slid her arms from around Emma’s body and slid out of the bed.

‘Do I gotta move?’ Emma whined softly.

‘Nope.’ Regina replied as she opened up her wardrobe and pulled her rucksack out of it, she slid back under the duvet, though she was sitting up and then passed the rucksack over to Emma, who by this point, was also sitting up, though she was using the headboard as support.

‘What’s this?’ Emma questioned  
‘Your stuff’ Regina said as she sat closer to Emma ‘well, all the things I could find.’

Emma looked at Regina, a mixture of gratitude and confusion filling her eyes as a small smile formed, dimpling her cheeks. She unzipped the rucksack and slowly pulled the contents of it out and lay it all across the blanket covering her legs. She gently looked through the photos and letters as if she had never seen them before, mainly because she had come to the conclusion she would never see them again, long before she had asked Killian to recover them. While looking through them she had begun to lean into Regina and after a few minutes Regina had wrapped an arm around Emma’s waist and was holding her close. As Emma looked at her photos with reverence, tracing her finger over the faces in the first photo slowly, Regina was practically biting her tongue to stop herself from asking questions as this was Emma’s time to look at the photos and she knew that, in time, Emma would talk to her about them. It was almost as if Emma could read Regina’s mind though, because she suddenly broke the comfortable silence that surrounded them. 

‘That was a good night’   
‘Was it?’ Regina asked gently, hoping to coax the story behind the photo out of Emma.  
Emma nodded. ‘Yeah’ she almost whispered ‘I’d won some big fight. It was against some macho guy who was like 7 feet tall and 6 foot wide. I thought for sure he’d kill me but it turned out he couldn’t throw a punch for shit because he was actually his muscles were all collagen injections and steroids.’ She paused because talking so much in one go was hurting her chest, effecting her breathing. She pressed herself closer to Regina and continued talking ‘but anyways. I beat him, and the odds for me to win were mental. Like they were insane. And I’d bet all my takings from the night before on me to win. And august was in town which was great because I’d not seen him in forever. And lily had come to see me fight – she was my first and last girlfriend before you by the way.’ Emma continued, nudging regina playfully. Regina grinned despite the fact that her heart had sped up ten to the dozen at hearing emma calling regina her girlfiend, even if it was in passing. 

‘What happened?’ Regina asked  
‘d’you mean between me and lily or that night?’

Regina wasn’t sure which she’d meant herself  
‘Both’ she finally answered, pressing a kiss to Emma’s temple, Causing the blonde to sigh happily. 

‘Okay, so, me and L, we’d met in a coffee shop back when I was in training, so we were like eleven and she never asked about the bruises on me or anything. She became my best friend and then when we were twelve we started dating. It wasn’t anything major or anything cause we were just kids. And she was so sweet and she’d lend me books and give me clothes or whatever cause she knew I had jackshit and because she hadn’t asked about the bruises or why I’d go missing for days on end when we’d first become friends-’ Emma paused for breath again. ‘She didn’t feel like she could ask when we were fourteen. But I told her regardless and she came to a few fights and tried to be supportive but seeing me fight, and seeing me punch and-’ The blonde paused again.

‘Are you okay Em? Is it your chest? you don’t have to tell me about L if you don’t want to.’ Regina whispered into Emma’s hair, stroking circles on Emma’s hipbone with her thumb, concerned about how far the bone was jutting out  
‘I’m good, my chest is a little tight. But I’m good.’   
‘Are you sure?’   
‘Yeah. I’m sure. So anyways, L hated seeing me punch and hated seeing me get punched. She hated me getting hurt but I think she was also worried that one day I’d turn around and punch her, though she never admitted that.’ 

Regina held Emma a little tighter.

‘Eventually it got too much and we broke up. It was amicable, I didn’t think it would be but it was. It was a strain, you know? We were fourteen and she knew her girlfriend was fighting every other night. It’s weird knowing you were there. That you moved city to watch me fight. And L could only watch three fights. Not that I hold it against her. Cause I don’t. It was hard on both of us.’ Emma stopped talking and rolled her neck, cracking the joint as she did so. ‘But anyway. That night, August was in   
wn, and L was there and after I’d won, Killian and August snuck me and L into a bar and we spent the night dancing and just having fun and then after that we all crashed at Killian’s and took a load of photos. It was great.’

The duo stayed up for the remaining hours of the morning, Regina listening to Emma as the blonde gave away pieces of her history, it was somewhat comforting to Regina to know that the last few years of Emma’s life hadn’t been complete doom and gloom, that she’d had Killian and Hook and, for a while, L to keep her happy and to smuggle her out of Smee’s to give her days off, to give her a chance to laugh.

When Henry knocked on Regina’s door at half seven, Emma was reading a letter from August that he’d sent her from Thailand and she was telling Regina about the fact that when the letter had arrived it had been doused in Thai perfume and Emma could smell it through the envelope. 

‘Good morning girls, you’re up earlier than I thought you’d both be.’ Henry said as he opened the door and saw Regina holding Emma close, and the two of them were covered in Emma’s photographs, letters sketchbooks and notebooks. 

‘That’s because we haven’t slept yet, Papa.’ Regina said, her voice slightly heavy with tiredness but she was smiling which was enough for the doctor, even though he disapproved of the lack of sleep, though he understood why they hadn’t slept – he knew his daughter almost as well as she knew herself and knew that she was worried about Emma, and he had a fair idea that Emma was worried about nightmares, he would have to talk to her about at least thinking about going to counselling and he was determined to keep an eye on emma for signs of PTSD.

‘Do you want me to bring your breakfast up? Or will you two be joining me downstairs? It will be ready at eight.’

Emma could feel Regina shrug behind her.

‘Its up to you Em.’ Regina muttered.

‘We’ll join you downstairs Henry, if that’s okay.’  
‘Brilliant, I’ll see you two in half an hour then.’ Henry said as he turned to leave the room.

Once he had left the two girls set about getting ready for breakfast, they both slid out of the bed.  
‘Is it okay if I leave everything where it is so I can finish going through it later?’ Emma asked quietly  
‘Of course.’ Regina replied, smiling at the blonde. ‘Do you want to pick some clothes out?’  
‘No, you do it. I’m going to shower, I feel all grimy and I want to see what you’ll pick for me today.’

Regina nodded as she opened her wardrobe ‘Do you need a hand getting ready for the shower?’

Emma nodded slowly – she still hated the fact that she couldn’t do simple things on her own. ‘Can you tape a bag over my cast again? And turn it on? I’ve not used this shower before.’

‘Sure I can.’ Regina smiled, walking over to Emma and helping the blonde walk to the bathroom, turning on the shower before rushing out and then returning with a towel, a carrier bag and some tape.

 

After having breakfast with Henry and Killian who apparently hadn’t left the night previous, the two girls were sitting on the bench in the garden, silently drinking their coffees, Emma leaning into Regina’s side once more. At breakfast they’d talked about the prospect of August getting out of hospital soon and how much his hospital fee would be – this line of conversation ended as quickly as it had begun with Henry saying ‘It’s been taken care of.’ Now the two of them were sitting contentedly outside, watching the grass and the flowers sway slightly in the breeze.

‘Gina?’   
‘Yes dear?’   
‘This is nice.’ Emma sighed, a smile forming on her face.  
‘It really is.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with me so far!


	19. The Stories

‘Regina?’  Emma asked as she lay on her stomach on the grass behind the Maine mansion her unbroken arm under her chin as she watched sun bounce of the lake acres ahead from where the two girls were lying. Regina was lying next to Emma, their shoulders touching as Regina mimicked the way that Emma was lying on the ground, her fingers were interlaced Emma’s, the cast that went up to the knuckles of the blonde was almost ignored as the two girls held hands.

‘Yes Em?’                                    

‘What happened to your mom? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. It’s just, I know she can’t have been nice if you ran away from home and disappeared to New York to avoid her,’ The blonde said softly, recalling one of the first conversations she an Regina had had. ‘And you said you and your dad moved into New York when you realised you were spending more time in New York watching me fight than you were spending here with your mother. But I’ve been here for three weeks now and your mother hasn’t showed up and she hadn’t appeared when I was here last and I was just wondering but you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want.’ The blonde concluded, repeating her earlier statement, not wanting Regina to feel pressured into talking about her past, especially seeing as Regina hadn’t made Emma open up about her past in the slightest.

 

Regina tilted her head to look at the blonde and was met by a pair of emerald eyes looking at her, glimmering in the sunlight.

 

‘I’ll tell you on one condition.’

 

Emma quirked an eyebrow at this, she realised that she may have made a mistake in the way that in asking Regina about her past, Emma may be forced to open up about her own. ‘Name your condition.’

 

‘A story. About you. Anything. Good or bad. From whenever you want.’

‘Any story? From anytime?’

‘Excluding the stories involving me.’ Regina replied, knowing that given half a chance, Emma would refuse to face her past.

 

‘No I wouldn’t do that, not if you’re going to tell me about your mother. I’ll tell you something from before we met.’

 

‘So you accept my condition?’

 

Emma nodded the best she could with her head resting on her arm.

 

A small smile appeared on Regina’s face. Grateful Emma was offering her a piece of her history.

 

‘She left. We – papa and I – we came back to Maine to collect some things about a month after we’d officially moved to New York. We walked into the house and it was dark and cold, as if no one had been in since me and Papa had left. We walked into the kitchen and there was a copy of her and papa’s divorce papers. She’d signed them. Neither me nor Papa had expected Mother to sign them but she had. And she’d taken everything except her car. Her lawyer contacted and let us know that she was okay. Because we were worried about her. We’d always been under her thumb and she’d always controlled us but then me and Papa had left and apparently, so had she. So Papa had contacted his lawyer who contacted her lawyer and was told she was okay. And that the car was to be given to me for my sixteenth birthday. I never used it. The only person to use it since mother had left was Killian. I get cards, letters, sometimes presents from her though they always come through her lawyer so there’s never a postmark or anything that would let us know where she is. I don’t mind that though, I don’t want to spend my life chasing postmarks. If I were to reply to her letters I’d have to go through her lawyer but I don’t think I will reply. But that’s okay.’

 

‘Are you okay?’ It was almost a whisper that left Emma’s lips

 

‘Yes.’

 

‘Promise?’

 

‘I Promise.’

 

‘Good.’ Emma said, leaning forwards slightly to press a ghost of a kiss to Regina’s forehead before she settled herself back down on her arm.

 

‘Pick an age’

 

‘What?’

 

‘Pick an age. When do you want a story from?’

 

Regina thought about this, she wanted to hear about cute young Emma but she knew that cute, young Emma didn’t have an easy time and she was worried that if she picked an age she would accidently pick a horrible time in Emma’s life. But she also knew that it was probable that Smee kidnapping her was one of the worst times in Emma’s life. But then again, she wasn’t certain it was. But, she argued with herself once more. She loved Emma. She hadn’t told the fighter lying beside her that yet, but she loved her. She loved her so much that sometimes Regina had to stop whatever she was doing and take a moment to take a deep breath because she was overwhelmingly in love with the blonde. And with that love came the fact that Regina wanted to know everything about Emma. She wanted to know the good and the bad, every story, every in and out of Emma’s life. She wanted to know where the passion for books had come from, where the sarcasm had been learnt, where the blonde realised that a quirk of an eyebrow changed the meaning of a sentence completely.  And so, she decided, she would ask for a story about cute, young Emma after all. And if it was a story about a good time in Emma’s life, she was lucky for now and would discover the darker stories in the future. And if it was a story about a bad time in Emma’s life then she would listen, and comfort and love Emma no matter what. And then she would ask Emma to tell her about a good time, just to hear the way the blonde’s voice changed when she smiled.

 

‘Five.’

‘You sure?’ Emma asked. Her face was a mask but Regina could hear an almost teasing tone in Emma’s voice.

‘Yes.’

‘Pick a number between one and four.’

‘What? Why?’

‘I had four foster families that year. Pick a number.’

‘Four.’

‘You sure?’ Emma asked once more, a small smile on her face.

‘I’m sure, dear.’ Regina replied

‘Good. The Ramos’ were a good family. They treated me like their own, I was lucky to be with them – they took me in because they wanted another child, not because of the payments they’d get for fostering me. I spent my sixth birthday with them and Mrs Ramos baked me the biggest cake I’d ever seen in my six short years.’

 

They lay for twenty minutes, the two of them holding hands, their eyes shut as Regina listened to the smile in Emma’s voice as the blonde spoke about the Ramos family; Mrs Ramos who could cook like nothing Emma had seen before, or since, who, despite the harsh bun in her hair, the sharpness of her body and the straightness of her posture would always have a smile on her face and was a massive  softy at heart who let Emma lick the spoon after making triple chocolate cake batter; Mr Ramos a mechanic who taught Emma how to take apart and put back together a small engine, he used to give Emma chocolates if she’d worked well in the garage, and in the eight months Emma was with the Ramos’, he never once raised his voice at the young girl, no matter now many times she accidentally dropped a tool into the engine of a car; and their son Ari, who was four years older than Emma and treated her like a sister, standing up to bullies for her when they were at school even if it meant that he would come home covered in bruises from where the bullies would punch him instead of Emma.

 

‘What happened?’ Regina asked when Emma had lapsed into silence.

‘Oh. Right. They were planning to adopt me and I was so happy because they were meant to be my forever family. But the company Mr Ramos worked for transferred him. To England. And so Mrs Ramos and Ari went with him. And they couldn’t bring me. So I went back to a group home.’

‘Oh, Emma…’ Regina began, her heart aching for the six year old that the girl she loved had been once.

‘No, it was okay.’ Emma said sternly. ‘Don’t look at me like that’ she said as she opened her eyes and saw Regina looking at her, raising a sceptical eyebrow ‘It was. I got over it. I was fine. And besides. If I’d been adopted I would have never trained under Killian or fought for Smee and I wouldn’t have met you. So it all worked out for the better.’


	20. The Books

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I feel like I owe you an explanation as to why there was complete silence from me for nearly two (was it three????) months and then all of sudden over the last two weeks there was two chapters and two one shots uploaded. To be honest, it was a mix of insane, insane writer's block that bought itself into everything I do from my social media to my writing, a complete lack of motivation to do anything and also I ended up working forty-five hours a week and so outside of work I couldnt bring myself to do anything but sleep. However, I quit my job and now I'm in ireland where I have nothing to do but read and write and so that's why my uploading scheldule - while still not regular - is more frequent. 
> 
> Just so you know - there is a time jump in this chapter. Additionally, this story is coming to an end. This chapter is not the last, however it is one of the last though I'm undecided as to how many more chapters this story will be.
> 
> I'd like to thank you all for sticking with me this far! :)

Emma closed the book she’d just finished, looking up she saw Regina smiling at her over the top of the book she herself was reading.

‘What?’ Emma asked with a grin.

‘Nothing,’ Regina said softly, her eyes shining with her smile. ‘What do you want to do today?’

Emma sat up straighter and thought about it for a minute.

‘I’m gonna pick a new book, then we need to get breakfast because your dad came up ten minutes ago now, then I think I might skype August and then I want to take you shopping.’

‘Okay. I think we can do that.’ Regina said smiling as Emma slid herself out of the bed and walked over to one of the bookshelves, placing the book she had just finished and selected ‘Be Safe, I Love You.’

It had been a little over four months since the Regina had opened up to Emma about her mother leaving, that night Regina had confided in Emma that her mother had been very emotionally abusive and, albeit not often, physically abusive towards her. Emma had spent that night consoling Regina. The next day Emma opened up about one of the last foster homes she had been in – it had been one of the worst she’d been in. Her foster mother was the source of her claustrophobia and lygophobia but being locked under the basement in Smee’s warehouse didn’t exactly help. Regina hadn’t been aware of the extent of Emma’s claustrophobia or her phobia of the dark but after that conversation Emma keeping the bedroom door open and asking Regina if she could keep a reading light on every night made sense. After that conversation Regina stopped closing the door to the bedroom and would leave the main light on until Emma drifted off to sleep before turning the reading light on and drifting to sleep herself.

In the five months since Emma had returned to the Mills’ she had made a near full recovery, though her arms would always ache at times, especially the broken one as it had not knitted together properly when she was being held prisoner by Smee.

The ‘important phone calls’ Henry had been making were to several people who owed him favours or could help him out and after three weeks of hushed phone calls while the Emma and Regina were lying in the garden or in other rooms reading, he had managed to find loophole after loophole and had managed to get in contact with an ‘old friend of an old friend’ as well as ‘a cousin of a cousins cousin’ – he was incredibly vague in the details when explaining to the girls what he had done to achieve the outcome he wanted. The outcome was that Emma, if she wanted, was to start school the following year. And had been allowed to stay with the Mills’. Emma had left Regina to read in the garden that afternoon to ask Henry about why he had pulled in so many favours to allow Emma to start school.  ‘Because you’re a smart girl, Emma, incredibly so. When you were missing Regina mentioned that you missed school.’ Emma had been so overcome with emotion that she had leant forwards and hugged the gentleman. She had promptly apologised for acting without thinking only to be told by Henry that she need not apologise, and pulled the softly crying girl into another hug. After this hugging between Emma and the gentleman was not an uncommon sight within the Mills’ homes.

It was decided that Regina and Emma would both study at a high school in New York, Regina would be going into her senior year after somehow, miraculously even, managing to keep her grades high enough to not need to repeat her last academic year. Even coming out with the top grades in her classes. Emma was, despite not being in school for more than half a decade ,would be only one grade beneath where she should be, meaning that she would be two grades beneath Regina. She wasn’t even the slightest bit bothered by this; she was more that grateful to be in school in the first place.

The trio sat and enjoyed a breakfast together, both girls greeting Henry with a smile as they sat and poured themselves coffees. They all engaged in light-hearted, friendly conversation before the two girls disappeared into the sitting room to set up Regina’s laptop.

‘Give the traveller my regards!’ They heard Henry call to them as he entered his office.

‘We shall!’ Regina replied as Emma logged into her skype account and dialled August. August had returned to Thailand two weeks after he had been given the all clear by doctors. When he was given the all-clear Emma was still unable to leave the house due to her injuries and so when August had appeared at the Mills’ Maine mansion with no warning, Emma held onto him like a koala and it took ten minutes of crying until they moved from the doorway and sat in the lounge. August gave Emma information of how he had tried – and failed – to get information about her out of the barman before he was battered. Emma gave August vague details about her time under Smee’s control. Despite their hours upon hours long conversations not even Regina knew everything that happened when Emma was kidnaped. No one but Emma knew everything about what had happened to her while she was with Smee.

‘Hey!’ Emma said as August appeared on screen.

 ‘Good morning girls!’ He said cheerily, happy that after some trial and error and many early hour skype calls they had mastered the eleven hour time difference.

They talked for a while, nearly an hour before they hung up, August promising to skype the day after next.

Emma ran upstairs while Regina went into her father’s office to help him do his accounts, Emma completed her workout while Regina worked through her father’s bank account.

‘Is everything okay, Mija?’ The man asked as Regina placed all the papers back into their rightful places.

‘Everything is perfect, Papa.’ Regina grinned before placing a kiss on her father’s cheek and squeezed his shoulders.

‘What is your plan for the rest of the day, Mija?’

‘Emma wants to go shopping so we’re going to head out. I might bring her to Time’s square because she hasn’t been yet. We’re probably going to eat there but we’ll be back for dinner Papa.’

‘Let me know when you’re on your way back and I’ll start dinner. Keep in contact, Mija.’ Henry said, smiling at his daughter.

‘Always, Papa.’ Regina said softly as she kissed her father on the cheek once more before she walked out of the office where she found Emma sat at the bottom of the staircase, the rucksack Regina had used to collect all of Emma’s items from the warehouse sat next to her, though now it only contained her own purse and cell phone. She had offered to replace the mobile that Smee had found and smashed but Regina had refused to take any money, or a phone. Emma had been able to afford this due to the fact that August had begun sending her money once more – he used to until he realised that Smee would steal the money straight from the envelopes. Emma had been given a small percentage of the gym; an apology of sorts from Killian for not protecting her as well as he felt he should have. Making her part owner was the only way to persuade Emma to take any money from Killian. She didn’t have any role in the gym besides to take some of the profits every month and although she was desperate to do some work at the gym Killian had refused and told her she could take it over one day if she so desired. Her final source of income was that she still fought in the rings. It had caused arguments between herself and Regina, herself and Killian and herself and August. Eventually, the trio relented. Smee hadn’t returned to any fights, and they all knew that fighting was part of who Emma was. She trained hard and fought harder and still won every fight she entered. Though she didn’t fight in anywhere near as many fights as she used to – only competing in a few every month instead of nearly every day. Though now she was competing in above board boxing matches which drew almost, if not more, attention and bets than underground fights. She had been told that the school she would be attending next semester has its own boxing team and she fully intended to join it.

Emma stood from her place on the stairs and swung the rucksack onto her back. ‘You ready to go?’ she said as she took Regina’s hand.

‘Yep’ the brunette said as she kissed Emma’s lips gently before grabbing her own shoulder bag.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, all mistakes are my own and I will, eventually, get round to editing them out. All comments are welcome and I'll reply to them all!
> 
> I hope you're all having a good day
> 
> \- Sam


	21. The Lakeside

Both girls were sitting on the windowsill in their bedroom in the Maine mansion, they had returned to the isolated mansion for a week away from the city before they began school together.  
Emma stared intently at the bookshelf. Regina watched Emma.   
‘Are you trying to burn holes through my books with your eyes?’ Regina said, hoping the half-hearted attempt at a joke would help lessen the heavy atmosphere that had filled the room.  
‘I’m going for a walk.’ The blonde stated as she slid of the windowsill and walked out of the bedroom where the two had been talking just a few minutes earlier.  
As soon as the bedroom door slammed shut Regina slumped against the wall behind her, cursing herself under her breath.   
‘Fuck.’ She muttered angrily as she looked out of the window and watched the blonde she loved storm across the grass heading in the direction of the lake and the stables. She had taken to both rowing and horse riding with a natural ease and Regina had no doubt that if Emma hadn’t returned by dinner she would be found either sitting in a boat on the lake or cantering around the stables on the horse she had adopted a few weeks prior.   
Regina kept watching as Emma walked across the gardens before walking through the hedges. she turned away, the glare of the afternoon sun hurting her eyes.   
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been glaring at the opposite wall when her door was knocked on, but it had been long enough that her eyes were dry and burning.  
‘it’s open’ the brunette said into the room, the crack in her voice echoing slightly around her.  
‘Is everything okay, Mija? I saw Emma storm across the garden.’ Henry said gently as he walked across the room to join Regina on the windowsill.   
‘No.’ the teenager sighed defeated as she rested her head on her father’s shoulder  
‘What happened?’  
‘I tried to get her to tell me what happened when she was with Smee. I pushed too hard and she stopped talking. She stormed out.’  
‘She’ll tell you in her own time Mija,’ Henry said as he rested an arm around his daughter. ‘Just give her some time to calm down on the lake and when she comes back, apologise.’  
‘But what do I do between then?’  
‘You help me cook dinner.’ Henry said with a smile as he stood and left the bedroom, his daughter following him to the kitchen.  
Regina loved that her father knew exactly when to push her into situations and exactly when to pull her away from situations and to distract her and to stop her overthinking herself into panic attacks.   
Father and Daughter worked silently side by side as they sliced up ingredients. On of Regina’s favourite things was cooking with her father. It was something they’d done together ever since Regina was a child and standing in the kitchen with her father as they made meals was something that came so naturally to her that she didn’t need to talk to her father about what they were doing, they just did it. Any talking in the kitchen was about the thoughts floating around each other’s heads, no matter what they were. The silence had started when they officially moved to New York, they used the time in the kitchen to talk about Cora, school and, unsurprisingly, the fights they would watch Emma in. It was in the kitchen that Henry had admitted that he hadn’t loved Cora for some time but would always love the her for giving him Regina. It was cooking with her father that Regina had spoken about the boy in her class Daniel, how he had asked her out and she’d agreed but it’d felt wrong for a reason she couldn’t place. Six months later in the kitchen she’d broken the silence to tell her father that she didn’t like boys, not in the same way she liked girls - the way she liked Emma.   
As they stood in the kitchen slicing ingredients and heating pans while Emma had disappeared to the other side of the land they owned, Regina spoke up. ‘I’ve got to learn to stop pushing her away, Papa.’   
Henry smiled, he knew that his daughter’s statement ran far deeper than her fear of hurting the blonde. ‘And why’s that?’ he asked, dicing the pepper that lay in front of him.  
‘I’m going to marry her one day.’   
Henry grinned at Regina’s coy smile and passed his daughter some more vegetables   
‘And I’ll walk you down the aisle when you do, Mija.’ 

Three hours later Regina ducked under the arch in the hedge, instantly spotting the blonde lying on the lakes’ bank, a row boat tied to the shore. She approached Emma, purposely stepping on the pebbles to announce her arrival without making the blonde jump.  
‘Hey’ Regina said softly as she sat beside the blonde, hoping that Emma wouldn’t shut her out.  
‘Hey Gi’ Emma replied leaning on her elbows to sit up slightly.   
‘Sorry about earlier.’   
‘No. It’s okay. Don’t apologise. I probably shouldn’t have walked away. I just needed some time out here.’  
‘That’s okay, too. You needed space. That’s understandable. You went rowing by the looks of things. I went cooking with Papa.’  
‘What’d you cook?’ Emma asked, sitting up properly and scooting slightly towards Regina.   
Regina smiled, she knew she’d been forgiven as soon as Emma replied to her; if she hadn’t been forgiven, she wouldn’t have been spoken to, it really was as simple as that when it came to Emma.  
‘Pernil’  
‘That’s that pork recipe we had like two weeks ago right?’   
‘Yeah. It’ll be ready in half hour, by the way.’  
Emma nodded. ‘I like that.’  
‘I know. Its why we made it.’ Regina said with a smile, taking Emma’s hand in her own as they sat watching the water move in front of them.

After dinner – ‘This is the best meal ever’ according to Emma – the two girls sat on the windowsill once more. Emma looking at the bookshelf, Regina looking at Emma.  
‘I’m sorry for walking away earlier.’  
‘It’s okay, you don’t need to apologise. I understand you needed your space.’  
‘I just couldn’t tell you what happened when I was with Smee. It was hard. I mean, you know it’s hard – I’ve woken you up with my nightmares enough. I can’t tell you what happened when I was with Smee. I will, one day. Just not now. Maybe not for a while. It’s like there’s something crushing my chest whenever I think about it. I’m getting better at handling it though. One day I’ll tell you.’  
Regina squeezed Emma’s hand slightly and smiled.   
She was happy that Emma was promising them a future of one day.


	22. The Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the final chapter of Bare Knuckled.
> 
> Thank you all for sticking with this - the longest piece of writing I've completed, the fic that was meant to be a week-long, three chapter project that turned into a fourteen month, twenty-two chapter fic.

Regina’s hand rested on Emma’s back, the other hand was held in Emma’s as the two of them danced around their apartment, stepping in time to an imaginary foxtrot as they made their way between the chairs, and the coffee table, and the unpacked cardboard boxes, twirling and spinning as they danced and laughed, enjoying the bliss and the happiness that surrounded them. The two were clad in pyjama shorts, tank tops and fluffy socks – the outfit was Emma’s comfy clothes of choice and over the years she had managed to get Regina to fall into the same mindset. They weaved around their sofa and back into the centre of the room before they stayed in one spot, the laughter slowing until it stopped, still swaying slightly to non-existent music, holding each other close.

Like this, held against each other in thin shirts, Regina could feel scars upon scars that covered most of Emma’s back and arms, they had, eventually spoken about Emma’s time with Smee. The story had taken months, almost an entire year, to tell. The story had unfolded in the early hours, usually whispered into the near-darkness – Emma hadn’t been able to sleep without a lamp ever since she had been found at the warehouse. Regina had listened as Emma told her that the reason that the only touches she could handle were hugs and kisses was that was the only way that Smee hadn’t touched her. It had taken a while – a long while – for the blonde to overcome that.

It had taken the three years since Emma had been found for her to build enough confidence to wear tank shirts outside of the house. Now, just shy of twenty and with Regina turned twenty-two that day – the cause of the duos impromptu dancing around the apartment they had moved into two days before, Emma was happy with her body for the most part; she had scars but who didn’t? and who else could say that their scars had – mostly - come from an almost decade long boxing career? A career that had paid for her education, fifty percent of her and Regina’s first home, her beat up yellow bug that she had seen and adored, and her caffeine addiction.

The two had moved into central New York; between Emma’s boxing matches – which over the years she had increased to four, sometimes five, times a week as long as she wasn’t swamped by school work - her part ownership of the gym which had increased to 30% when she had turned eighteen and had begun training new clients and Regina’s part-time jobs as a barista on weekends, because she wanted a ‘normal job’, as well as her father’s monthly deposits into both of their bank accounts, the duo could afford to move into a studio apartment only a mile from Broadway. They both adored the isolation that both of Henry’s mansions offered them when they needed time away from the city but between going to school in the city and the amount of time they had both spent in the gym, they had adapted to the city and had decided to move there. Together.

They swayed to the sound of the clock that was still lying on the top of a cardboard box and the sirens that blared outside their house, burying their heads into one another’s necks, blonde hair tangling ever so slightly with brunette as they moved. Hands wrapped around one another’s waists.

The two stayed there, dancing slowly, for hours. After the late night had made way for early morning, the two made their way into their bedroom, Emma holding Regina’s hand as she led the way to their bed. They lay, curled together under the blankets, whispering ‘I love you’s’ into the pillow as they held each other, both too tired and too happy at their current state and comfortability as they lay wrapped around each other to do anything else other than cuddle.

As the night began to fall away, Regina drifted to sleep, holding Emma close as she slept. Once the sky had started to turn grey Emma slid out of the bed, taking care not to wake the brunette next to her up as she removed the brunette’s limbs from around her. Emma crept out the room, turning the reading light off as she did so, and quietly slipped out of the apartment window on to the fire escape, she sat on the edge of the escape, her legs dangling over the street beneath, her chin resting on her arms that were crossed and lying across the bottom rail that ran along the escape, her legs freezing as her bare skin made contact with the metal beneath her.

Over the last three years, when Emma couldn’t sleep she would find herself sitting outside watching the sky lighten. And when she did sleep she was accustomed to waking hours before Regina so she could watch the sun rise in the sky.

She watched as the sun rose over New York City, the sky turning from grey, to pink, to orange, to blue. She watched her breath turn to steam in the November air as she yawned, exhausted but not even slightly regretting staying up dancing with Regina until her legs ached and staying up to make sure that Regina got at least some sleep – the brunette was always grumpy if she had stayed up all-night, Emma had made a point of avoiding Regina unless she was bringing the brunette coffee during finals weeks at school, nor had Emma regretted freezing to watch the sunrise as she thought. She loved watching the sunrise, loved watching darkness fade away into something so beautiful, loved watching the city come to life, not that it ever really slowed down. Emma loved watching orange fill the sky as she thought, it always made her feel better, made her thoughts happier and lighter.

Emma sat there, her arms numb and her legs frozen, thinking. She was so deep in thought that she hadn’t realised that Regina was awake until the brunette was sitting next to Emma on the fire escape, draping part of their comforter, and cocooning the two of them in the blanket Emma moved away from the edge of the fire escape and drew her legs up so she could be entirely covered by the blanket. They were pressed against each other, Regina had one hand holding the blanket shut and the other around Emma’s waist, holding the blonde close.

‘What’re you thinking about?’ Regina whispered, her voice still heavy with sleep as she lay her head on Emma’s shoulder.

‘How grateful I am that you first bought me back to Maine when you found me on the street. And that you saved me from Smee. And that you love me.’

‘I’ve always loved you, Em. I always will.’

‘I love you, too.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank anyone who stuck with me this far. I am shit at schedule keeping and motivating myself to write and no one sent me any shitty messages when it took six weeks to update. So thank you!
> 
> Any and all comments are appreciated.
> 
> this story will, eventually, be edited and refined because it is so flawed that when I read it back recently every error I missed originally it actually hurt because how did I miss so many errors???????? 
> 
> also, here's some little things about the story;  
> \- it was meant to be three chapters, 4500 words, and published within a week. As soon as i finished chapter one i realised that this was going to be bigger than that.
> 
> \- this was never how the story was going to end. In most plots I had back this time last year - when finishing this story was unlikely because I've never finished a multichap - there wasn't an ultimate 'happy ending' like this one. In fact, in three of my ideas, Emma died. In one, she stayed alive but Regina didn't find Emma until years and years later when she had a family of her own and would go on vacation to england. She would find Emma there. In one, Regina was killed. 
> 
> \- I decided that they needed a happy ending.
> 
> \- When this story started, I was in a relationship and when I linked the first chapter to a friend she messaged back (and this is paraphrasing) 'are you emma and youre winning because youre with [my ex]' the answer was no but i loved the insight of this.
> 
> \- once my mum asked what i was reading and i told her i was being a beta for someone else when i was writing a chapter of this, she read over my shoulder and said 'thats gonna turn into gay porn.' I mean - she wasnt exactly wrong, it's just that this story was never going to be explicit. Like i said, Emma was meant to die so there was never actually going to be any sex, just Regina's heartbreak.


End file.
